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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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Twenty-Five 

NEW AND UNIQUE 

CNTCRTAINMCNTS 

Especially iot^^ 

CHURCH ENTERTAINMENTS 
THE LADIES' AID SOCIETY 
THE EPWORTH LEAGUE 
THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR 

For ANY CHURCH SOCIETY which desires to 
give clean and Christian-like entertainments, that are 
new and unique, and which will attract the people... 

A MOST VALUABLE BOOK 
for those who have the social wel- 
fare of the Church in charge 

Bv GRACE LILLIAN HUNTER 

Pdgg$l.00 



DCS nolnes, l^wa 
The Ladles TXkl Socierij Pubilsrilng Co. 

1599 







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copyrighted in 1899 by 

Grace Lillian Hunter 

all rights rzserved 



TWO ^v^r-iES RECElVt.D. 



SECuuD COPY, 



9 



37' O0\»fi$>^ 






!»■»■■ - 



PRErACE 



THIS little book is designed especially for the 
use of those Ghurch societies of whatever 
r\ame, a part of whose duty it is to pro- 
Vide for the social needs of their members 
and friends. The socials and entertainments 
herein described are designed not only to provide 
for proper social demands, but also for the rais- 
ing of money for Ghurch and benevolent purposes. 
The Ladies' Aid Society or some similar society 
in most churches is expected to contribute 
liberally to the support of the Ghurch and more 
particularly in making Ghurch improvements c>nd 
keeping the same in good repair. 

There has been a tendency in many Ghurch 
societies to accept and use any entertainment 
that Would draw the crowds, regardless of the 
social and moral effect it might haVe on them. 
The question has too often been "How many 
dollars will it add to our treasury," instead of 
"How much good will it do." No chur ch society 
car\ afford to give any entertainm ent ti^.at is at 

ail objectionable. The reason for the use of such 
sensational and unwholesome entertainments has 
been primarily from the lack of something better. 
The social side of our nature must be pro- 
vided for and the Ghurch, preacher or society that 
neglects it neglects one of the "means of grace" 



PREFACE. 



and one of the best methods for interesting out- 
siders and bringing them within Ghurch in- 
fluences. 

in considering socials and entertainments to 
be given by a church society we should ask; "is it 
wholesome and elevating;" and then; "Is it enter- 
taining.'' !n general, they should promote socia- 
bility, mutual acquaintance and enjoyment. They 
should stimulate the intellect. 

On general principles it is not best to hold 
either socials or entertainments in the Ghurch 
auditorium. If your Ghurch has parlors these may 
be used for social purposes, but generally speak- 
ing, socials and entertainments should be given 
in some public hall or In the home. 



1 



...TABLE or CONTENTS... 



PAGE 

1. The Camera Exhibit 7 

2. Suggestions for Kntertainments 8-9 

3. The Husking Bee 9-11 

4. Program of War >ongs 12-15 

5. The School of Scandal 15-18 

6. The Portrait Party 18-20 

7. An Evening with Koiih 20-21 

8. A Novel Entertainment 21-24 

9. The County Fair. 24-27 

10. A Mock Trial 27-31 

11. Thoughts and Wheels 32-84 

12. Hollow'een Parties b4-38 

13. The Mum Social 88-40 

14. The Lightning Drill 40-43 

15. The Picture <^ame 43-45 

16. The Graphaphone Social 45-47 

17. The Home-Made Cook Book 47-51 

18. An Evening with Scotch Song and Story 51-53 

19. Millinery Sociable 54-58 

20. Memorial Day 58-61 

21. A Squash Social 61-63 

22. Poem, "A Note of Warning" 64-66 

23. Interesting and Money-Making Enterprise 67-69 

24. The Preacher's Loan 70-71 

25. War Program 72-73 

26. Newspaper Social 74-78 

27. Old Curiosity Shop 78-80 

98. Grand Birthday Fete 81-83 

The Ladies' Aid Society Journal 84 



J 



CAMERA EXHIBIT. 



In every community there are women who, not only 
have gotten a great deal of pleasure out of their cam- 
eras, but have become exceedingly clever amateur 
photographers. The surrounding scenery has lent 
itself to their skill, unique characters have been taken 
and interesting situations have been preserved. They 
may have traveled, and, as they flitted from place to 
place, added to their collection the famed places of 
other cities and lands — portraits, interior views, his- 
toric homes, bits of scenery, public buildings, noted 
men and women, etc. It is remarkable how many 
really interesting things one finds in such a collection. 
These can be utilized for they make a most attractive 
feature of a reception — as a well known society woman 
has proven at a recent entertainment. Her work was 
displayed in the dining room, which was decorated in 
red and green. The walls were hung with red bunting 
which proved an effective background for many of the 
photographs. Others were arranged on the long table, 
which was spread with damask, with a centerpiece of 
lace over green silk, decorated with red roses and 
lighted by numerous candles in tall candlesticks. The 
lamps about the room all wore red shades. After 
viewing the exhibits and having the interesting fea- 
tures of special places explained, the guests were 
invited to the library where refreshments were served. 

If you have a clever amateur photographer in your 
society you will find that the "Camera Exhibit" will 
afford a delightful accessory to an evening's enter- 
tainment. 



8 ENTERTAINMENTS 

SUGGESTIONS TOR CNTERTAIN- 

nCNTS. 



There is no entertainment more pleasing and satis- 
factory from every point of view than one given by 
the children. It does not matter a great deal what 
the nature of the entertainment may be or whether the 
children are well trained or not. An entertainment by 
the little tots will always draw well and be thought 
eminently successful. Of course some entertainments 
given by children are far superior to others, and there 
may be all grades excepting bad. No children's enter- 
tainment is ever a failure. They always attract a good 
audience, and the larger the number of children who 
can be introduced into the program, the larger the 
audience will be. Each pretty little girl and bright 
faced boy has a fond Mamma and an admiring Papa 
as well as numerous Uncles and Aunts, Grandpa's, 
Grandma's, Cousins, etc., etc., each and all of whom 
are especially interested in at least one particular part 
of that program. It doesn't matter a great deal if 
Tommie does forget his piece and Susie jUmble her 
words together. The very sight of those bright 
faced children all dressed out in their Sunday best is 
most refreshing and entertaining. And the man or 
woman whose life will not be made a little more 
sunshiny and happier and better by such an occasion 
will bear watching to say the least. 

God bless the boys and girls; they bring into our 
lives many showers and plenty of trouble, but the 
sunshine and love and happiness they bring outweigh 
all else. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE 9 

So do not forget, dear sisters, to enlist the aid of the 
children occasionally for your entertainments. It will 
be good training for them and remunerative for you. 

It is always better of course to have the children 
well trained, as it adds so much more to what in any 
case will be an enjoyable program. If you have a 
kindergarten in your town the teacher and pupils can 
give many very pretty drills and games. 



THE HUSKING BEE. 



More and more as the years go by are the people 
becoming interested in the old-fashioned things of 
our grandmother's time. Looking back through the 
mists that have gathered about the olden days and 
softened all the hard lines, seeing only the pleasant 
side of that life, and knowing nothing of its hard- 
ship, its loneliness or its isolation, we have wished 
that we might be as they were. And such a wish 
is natural. Robert Burdette says that ever since 
Adam's fifty-first birthday people have longed for 
the good old times of fifty years ago. 

In seeking for novel entertainment one cannot, 
sometimes, do better than to go back to the old- 
fashioned amusements of those early days, when 
life was so terribly earnest that few were so frivol- 
ous as to devote an evening wholly to amusement, 
but must needs combine the work and play. The 
husking bee was an event of considerable import- 
ance in those earlier days when amusements were 
scarce and people were bending every effort to 
order their lives aright. 



10 ENTERTAINMENTS 

To reproduce a husking bee, secure a large barn 
or carriage house, with an ample barn floor. Let 
your announcements or invitations be the old fash- 
ioned wording and spelling. Old-fashioned cos- 
tumes are worn, and *'Priscilla" and "Prudence" and 
"Patience" and "Charity" of the later time, arrayed 
in the gowns of their grandmothers, will turn the 
heads of a later Miles Standish quite as effectively 
as did the maidens of long ago, and they will look 
prettier because quainter.. The barn floor, lighted 
with lanterns swung here and there, banked on the 
sides with mows of sweet-smelling hay, and over- 
head the cob-webbed rafters shov/ing dim through 
the pale light, will give a weird appearance to the 
whole scene and make the old-fashioned costumes 
look all the prettier. At the end of the floor arrange 
a booth for each corner, from which to serve light 
refreshments. These booths of cornstalks, sheaves 
of grain, and golden rod, can be made very pretty. 
Pumpkins, sheaves of grain, autumn leaves and 
golden rod used in decoration will make a pleasing 
effect. Rustic seats and easy chairs are arranged 
for the older folks. On the barn floor heaps of 
unhusked corn await the guests. The fiddler, 
perched up on his box, and beating time vigorously 
with his foot, plays while the guests are arriving 
and at intervals during the evening. When all have 
arrived the husking bee begins. Seated around the 
different piles of corn, they bend to their work. 
The new-old-fashioned girl may know how many 
top coats belong in nature to an ear of corn, and 
may be familiar with the peculiar twist of the wrist 
which takes off those husky coverings with neatness 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 11 

and dispatch, but she will make lots of fun as she is 
getting her theories into practice. There will be 
rivalry between the different groups, and the hunt 
and finding of red ears will cause a great deal of 
amusement. At a recent husking bee one man was 
found with two red ears stuffed in his pocket before 
the husking began, and after he was discovered ho 
admitted that he had husked ten bushels of corn to 
find them. During the husking one man found a 
red ear, and started on a mission, but when he got 
half way around a young lady discovered that his 
red ear was not red at all, and she put a stop to 
his mission. He wanted to know what he was to 
do with the kisses he had gotten dishonestly, and 
said he would not keep them, but would immedi- 
ately give them back. This laudible ambition to 
clear himself was frowned down, however. 

After the husking was over, a program of music 
and recitation was given, consisting of all old-fash- 
ioned songs and stories of "ye olden tyme," some 
one recited "The Husking Bee," "Country Court- 
ship," and "When the Frost is in the Pumpkin." 
"Grandma's Advice" made a pretty solo. The rest 
of the evening was taken with old-fashioned games, 
ending with "Money Musk." When the festivities 
were over, the company repaired to the house, where 
an old-fashioned supper was served. 

Extra care must be taken in hanging the lanterns, 
so that there will be no danger of an accident. A 
fee of twenty-five cents should be charged for admis- 
sion, and this to include light refreshments. It will 
add to the pleasure if this entertainment is given in 
the country and the townpeople given a hayrack ride. 



12 ENTERTAINMENTS 



PROGRAM or WAR SONGS. 



War songs and ballads have found their way into 
the hearts of millions of people. They stir up 
the fires of patriotism as nothing else can do. Many 
a man of faltering courage has been nerved to heroic 
action by the inspiring strains of martial music, 
and many a man has gone to a soldier's death upheld 
and comforted by the melody of a song which in- 
spired his heroic service. Get Young America to 
know and sing our national songs, and American 
valor will ever command the admiration and respect 
of the world. 

No program will be more popular than a pro- 
gram of war songs. Decorate the hall with flags 
and bunting, and arrange in conspicuous places the 
heroes of the past and present; Washington, Lincoln, 
Grant, Joe Wheeler, Dewey, Hobson, and others. 
These can be borrowed, or rented from the picture 
dealer. The G. A. R. of the town will be glad to 
loan muskets, swords, and flags. See that all the old 
soldiers and the new have personal invitations and 
urge them to be present. 

The object of the program is not only to listen to 
the singing of the war songs but to learn something 
more of the songs themselves, their history, by whom 
and under what circumstances they were written. 

This will add interest to the songs, and give much 
information that is not generally known. Let the 
program proper begin by a general talk on "War 
Songs" by the pastor. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 13 

Before the first musical number on the program 
is given some one gives a short history of the song. 

"The Star Spangled Banner" was written by- 
Francis Scott Key, who was a prisoner on the frigate 
Surprise at the time of the attack on Fort McHenry. 
He had no means of knowing during the long night 
whether or not the fort had surrendered but by the 
dim light of the September morn he saw that the 
flag was still waving over the fort and in the exalta- 
tion in finding that "the flag was still there" took an 
old letter from his pocket and on the back of it wrote 
the poem that still thrills every patriotic heart Give 
the historical setting as fully as possible, tell where 
Fort McHenry is, show the condition of the country 
at the time, the anxiety that was felt, and picture as 
vividly as you can the situation of the author at the 
time of writing. The audience will then be able 
to appreciate the song as never before. Following 
the history of the song a quartette sings "The Star 
Spangled Banner." 

"Tenting on the old Camp Ground" was written 
by Walter Kittredge in 1862. While in camp wait- 
ing to go to the front he wrote both words and music 
in a few minutes. With the home and dear ones 
behind and the stern work of war ahead the heart of 
the soldier boy sang the song that cheered and in- 
spired thousands of his countrymen. Give as full a 
description and picture as faithfully as you can the 
surroundings in which the song was written before 
it is sung. 

"Just Before the Battle Mother," written by Geo. 
F. Root, makes a very effective number to follow 
"Tenting on the Old Camp Ground." "The Battle Cry 



14 ENTERTAINMENTS 

of Freedom" is another of the many songs of that 
prolific writer. An Iowa regiment of 800 men lost 
more than half their number at the seige of Vicksburg, 
but, nothing daunted, the brave men who were left 
waved their torn and powder-stained flag, singing 
"The Battle Cry of Freedom." One of the many 
incidents that can be related. 

"Yes we'll Rally Round the Flag Boys," another 
song from the pen of Geo. F.. Root, was written when 
he heard of Lincoln's call for troups. The famous 
Lombard brothers took it up and soon it was on the 
lips of every soldier in the land. 

"The Vacant Chair," also by the same author, was 
one of the most popular ballads during the civil war. 

The famous camp fire song of the south,' "Mary- 
land, My Maryland," by its true merit was carried 
far beyond the southern lines. It was written by 
James R. Randall, a young college professor, when 
under intense excitement caused by the attack on 
the Massachusetts troops as they passed through 
Baltimore, his native city. He had no thought at 
the time of the music; Miss Cary of Baltimore dis- 
covered that the words would go to an old college 
air. This song so dear to the heart of every Mary- 
lander will be appreciated. 

Henry C. Wood is best remembered as the author 
of "Marching Through Georgia," which Brander 
Mathews considers the best war song ever written. 
Tell of its origin and something of the author. 

"John Brown's Body" was the inspiration of Julia 
Ward Howe's grand "Battle Hymn of the Republic." 
Give a short history of each. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 15 

Kipling's "Recessional" which critics declare 
sounded the truest note of the Queen's Jubilee, is a 
very effective number, and very appropriate. Give a 
short account of the well known author. 

"America," written by Dr. Samuel S. Smith, in 1832, 
when he was a student at Andover, is the closing 
number. It is sung by all, the quartette leading. 

In addition to the above, short talks on "Dixie" 
and "The Bonny Blue Flag" will be interesting. 

The above are the barest suggestions of the talks 
that are to precede the singing. Let the introduction 
to the songs be as full as time will permit, and picture 
the times and circumstances of writing as graphically 
as possible. It will take considerable time and labor 
to prepare the program but it will furnish a delight- 
ful evening's enjoyment. A ladies quartette, and a 
male quartette, alternating in giving the songs will 
divide the work properly. 

An admission fee is charged if you wish to make 
it a money making entertainment. 



THE SCHOOL Or SCANDAL. 



In every community there are those whose chief 
delight it is to pry into family closets and drag out 
to the astonished gaze of the neighbors the family 
skeleton. Busybodies, who find out the trials and 
troubles, the shame and sadness of the home life, 
and parade these shortcomings throughout the 
neighborhood; who gloat over the weaknesses of 
others, and seem never so happy as when picking to 



16 ENTERTAINMENTS 

pieces the character of another; who revel in divorce 
proceedings, and who smirch character, as white as 
truth, by a shrug of the shoulders or by a rising in- 
flection. These are found in every neighborhood. 
They are to a community what the yellow news- 
papers are to journalism. 

Then there are those whose intentions are the 
best, who would not knowingly say falsely one word 
to hurt another, but who become unconscious in- 
struments in the work of tearing down character 
through the careless habit of passing stories along — 
telling the news. 

One is surprised at the growth of a bit of scandal. 
Like a rolling snowball it gathers size and weight as 
it goes. A reported story, after having been several 
times told, is related as fact. 

A game gives a practical illustration of this, and 
while furnishing amusement, at the same time 
teaches a valuable lesson. It is called the "School 
of Scandal." The details of the game must be the 
secret of the committee having charge. If all the 
participants were on their guard, much of the pleas- 
ure would be lost. 

Fifteen or twenty of the guests are constituted 
scandal mongers, the rest become audience. The 
sheep are separated from the goats, the scandal 
mongers going to another room. The leader having 
charge of the game then explains to the balance of 
the audience that she is going to demonstrate to 
them, by a practical test, that it is impossible to tell 
a thing just as one hears it, and also give them an 
object lesson of how scandal starts and grows. 
She reads to them a bit of c^ossip written on a 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 17 

paper, and explains that it is to be read word for 
word to the first scandal monger, repeated from 
memory by her to the next one called in, and so on. 
The first scandal monger is then called in, and the 
bit of news read hurriedly but distinctly to her. 
She calls in another and rapidly repeats it to her as 
she remembers it, and so on, unt'l the story has 
been told and retold to all the fifteen or twenty. 
The story as the last one tells it is taken down in 
writing just as repeated and compared with the 
written copy as the story was first told. Hardly 
ever do the two stories bear the slightest resem- 
blance to each other, although each one told it "just 
as it was told her." It is amusing to the audience 
to note how unconsciously and with what perfect 
sincerity and honesty the different scandal mongers 
enlarge or modify the original story, until, what was 
a mere rumor, becomes an asserted fact. 

Take, for example, a test that was recently made 
at a social gathering. The following was read from 
a paper and passed along, as above described: "It 
is reported that last Tuesday night Mr. Jones, the 
Sunday School superintendent, was seen under the 
window of Miss Smith, the organist, playing on the 
guitar and singing love ballads. Mrs. Jones was at 
home minding a sick baby, and thought that Mr. 
Jones was kept away because of an important direct- 
ors' meeting at the bank. Such conduct is shameful. 
Mr. Jones should be drummed out of the commun- 
ity." After passing down the list and each one 
telling it "just as she heard it," the startling an- 
nouncement was made by the last one repeating the 
gossip, that "Mr. Smith, the organist, was seen one 



18 ENTERTAINMENTS 

evening last week by the Sunday School superin- 
tendent under the window of Mrs. Jones, the bank- 
er's wife, singing love ballads. Mr. Jones was 
attending an important meeting at the bank. The 
whole community was indignant. Mr. Smith and 
Mrs. Jones were drummed out of the neighbor- 
hood." The festive Sunday School superintendent 
was transformed into a banker, v/eighted down with 
the cares of business, and a deeply wronged man; the 
frivolous organist had dropped out of the story, and 
an innocent member of the Smith fam'ly dragged 
in; the patient and long-suffering Mrs. Jones was 
made to appear as a disloyal wife ; and a new 
Sunday School superintendent had appeared. Now 
no one had consciously misrepresented any fact. 

Do not make your story either too long or too 
short; tell it plainly and do not repeat; and he care- 
ful that your scheme is kept from the participants in 
the game^ so that they will not put forth extraordi- 
nary effort in telling precisely their story. 

The game, if well carried out, will furnish much 
amusement. It will prove a very attractive feature 
of a literary program on "Building vs. Tearing Down 
Character." 



THE PORTRAIT PARTY. 



This entertainment is easily arranged. Fifty or 
more portraits arc cut from old numbers of magazines 
and newspapers. These pictures are then mounted 
on squares of card board, numbered and arranged 
conveniently about the room. If the entertainment 
is given in a hall the portraits may be fastened to a 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 19 

wire strung along the length of the hall. Whether 
in a hall or private house they should be so arranged 
that the people will not have to crowd around them. 

Each guest is provided with a card, with a space 
left blank at the top for his or her name, and num- 
bers down the side and blank spaces left for the 
names of the pictures exhibited. To each of the 
cards is attached a small lead pencil. 

When all the guests have arrived the one having 
the entertainment in charge explains that each one 
without consulting another or getting help in any 
way, is to write, on the cards furnished, the names 
of the persons whose pictures are on exhibition; that 
a certain time will be given to this; and that the one 
having the most nearly correct list will receive a 
prize. A consolation prize may also be given to the 
one presenting the poorest paper. 

The social committee will use judgment in select- 
ing the portraits. If your company is made up of 
cultured people, the portrait gallery could be made 
up largely of people famous in special fields, while 
if your guests were those whose reading was prin- 
cipally confined to the newspapers, the persons rep- 
resented should be those widely known. The- 
pictures in the main should be those of living 
celebrities, or those who have but recently died. 

Every ten or fifteen minutes a halt should be 
called, by tapping a bell, to listen to some piece of 
music or reading. 

When the allotted time has expired the cards 
should be collected, and while the judges are pass- 
ing upon the lists more music should be provided, 



20 ENTERTAINMENTS 

or some other diversion introduced. Refreshments 
may be served while the judges are out. 

The following are some of the pictures that may 
be easily secured and are generally known: Wm. 
McKinley, Wm. J. Bryan, T. B. Read, Col. D. B. 
Henderson, Chauncey Depew, Ambassador Choate, 
Sir Julian Ponceforte, Admiral Dewey, Queen Vic- 
toria, Queen Wilhelmina, Kaiser Wilhelm, Henri 
Rochefort, Captain Dreyfus, Thomas Edison, Helen 
Gould, Clara Barton, Jean de Reszke, Richard Mans- 
field, Rudyard Kipling, Russel Sage, James Whit- 
comb Riley, Sara Bernhardt, Grover Cleveland, Robt. 
G. Ingersoll, Theodore Roosevelt, Mrs. John Jacob 
Astor, Mrs. Wm. McKinley, the governor of your 
state and your congressman — it would be a compli- 
ment to your local men, if any of them have recently 
been in the papers, to add their pictures to the list. 

The portrait party affords a good test of one's 
general reading, and observation, for all the pictures 
are of people who are, or have been recently, before 
the public eye. 



AN EVENING WITH NOAH. 



The announcement of "An Evening with Noah" 
will excite the curiosity of the people, and every 
curious man or woman will help you advertise } our 
social. If the social committee can keep the secret 
no one's curiosity will be satisfied until the guests 
assemble and find that "An Evening with Noah" 
proves to be an evening with Noah Webster and 
the spelling book. A short sketch of his life is given, 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 21 

after which the company "choose up and spell 
down" in real old-fashioned style. Two leaders are 
selected and they take their places at opposite sides 
of the room and choose sides in the old way. Only 
one trial is given; when one misses he takes his seat. 
Both old and young are chosen, and some of the 
older folks will furnish surprises for the younger 
students of to-day, for while they did not have the 
advantages of the varied curriculums of our day, yet 
they learned how to spell. "Consubstantiation," and 
"phthisic" and "circumnavigation" and such words 
will be old friends to them. 

A great deal of fun can be gotten out of the old 
fashioned "spelling down." It will furnish a pleas- 
ing part of an evening's social. If many of the older 
people take part use an old fashioned spelling book. 



A NOVEL ENTCRTAINnENT. 



I have heard of cases where a person had forgot- 
ten his name; I have seen people in mad houses 
who imagined they were some one else; but to be 
perfectly sane and normal, and with clear memory, 
and yet not to know who you are, is an experience 
I had never before had until the other evening. 
The hostess was a very clever woman, and we all 
anticipated a good time. As we entered the room 
a paper with a name written distinctly upon it was 
pinned upon the back of each of us. Thereafter 
each became the person whose name was pinned 
upon his back, and each had that uncomfortable, 



22 ENTERTAINMENTS. 

curiosity-wracking feeling of having lost his iden- 
tity — each was in search of himself. The congress- 
man's question, "Where am I at," expressed the 
feelings of all of us. All knew the others' name, 
but no one knew his own. Each was addressed as if 
she were the real person whose name she bore (care 
being taken not to reveal the actual name.) Much 
deference was shown to ladies of rank, and as the 
homage was being paid to them, their faces were a 
study. Other guests were presented to the brave 
and gallant Colonel, and the bewildered expression 
on the Colonel's face spoke volumes. Whether he 
won his rank charging up San Juan Hill, or Bunker 
Hill, or Lookout Mountain, or opening up the Nile 
or fighting the Chinese or the Indians, or was some 
splendid peace Colonel on a governor's staff, he 
did not know. He might have been a Chinaman, 
or a Frenchman, or a Spaniard; but the guests knew 
he was Colonel Roosevelt. The minisiter's wife 
was much puzzled when the guests spoke of her 
recent triumphs on the stage; she was Ellen Terry. 

The minister was greeted with such questions as 
these: "Do you feel your age?" "See a good 
many improvements, don't you?" "How do you 
like your clothes?" And the appealing look told 
that he knew not that he was Adam. 

The deacon was bombarded with such questions 
as these: "You used to sleep out nights, did you 
not, Colonel?" "Must have killed a number of men 
in your time?" — and no wonder that the steady- 
going and peace-loving deacon felt like resenting 
these aspersions against his character. He was 
Buffalo Bill (Colonel Cody). 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 23 

"This gentleman is blind," was the remark made 
to the astonished man, whose tag indicated that he 
was Milton. 

"This lady is remarkably well preserved," was the 
shocking remark a young man made as he presented 
his college chum to his beautiful young aunt, and 
the crowd roared at her discomfiture. Her card 
indicated that she was Lot's wife. 

"Don't tell her any secrets; she is the greatest 
gossip in the neighborhood," was the warning given 
to the young man as he was presented to another 
young lady, whose card said that she was Mrs. Grundy. 

John Bull and Uncle Sam, Hobson, and a mount- 
ain of a man who was labeled Cupid, made a great 
deal of fun. Some of the other people represented 
were Admiral Dewey, T. B. Reed, Wm. J. Bryan, 
Capt. Dreyfus, Grover Cleveland, George Washing- 
ton, Rameses II, Cleopatra, Ruth, Esther, Socrates, 
Eve, Noah, Mary Ellen Lease, Josiah Allen's Wife 
and Shakespeare. 

So the evening went. Each one enjoying the 
discomfiture of others, but getting no sympathy for 
himself. No one was allowed to answer any direct 
questions telling another's identity; the only way 
one found out who he was, was from the conversa- 
tions of others. The title of the person was used 
in conversation, i. e., "Lady" or "Duchess," or "Col- 
onel," or "General," but, of course, not the name. 
There were no looking glasses in the room that 
might reveal the name. 

The evening was a most delightful one, full of 
bright conversation, keenly interesting, and the 
hours fairly flew. 



24 ENTERTAINMENTS. 

This method of entertainment will make almost 
an ideal one for any company except very young 
people. 



THE COUNTY TAIR. 



One of the most profitable and at the same time 
one of the most delightful entertainments that can be 
given in the autumn is what we are pleased to call 
'•The County Fair." In the late fall after "the frost 
is on the pumpkin and the fodder's in the shock" is 
the best time to hold the county fair. 

A large hall should be selected and by the help 
of a carpenter a few uprights can be made secure 
from which to run wires for curtains to divide the 
hall into booths. There should be a row of booths 
on each side of the hall with the stage at the end. 
Among the booths you will probably want, a candy 
booth, a popcorn booth, a fruit booth, a lemonade 
booth, an ice cream booth, a supper booth, several 
booths for articles to sell and other booths that will 
be suggested to you, 

A director-general, the woman with the most time 
and greatest ability in managing such affairs, should 
be chosen; to assist her there should be a board of 
managers, and from these should be detailed a man- 
ager for each booth. These managers should then 
meet and select their helpers. This should be done 
at a meeting of all the managers so that the helpers 
may be properly appointed and all taken. We 
would suggest that so far as possible these booth 
helpers be selected from among the young ladies of 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 25 

your community and others who are your best enter- 
tainers. 

Do not limit yourself to your own church people 
or society for helpers, get as many as possible to 
work with you whether they belong to your church 
or society or not. Each manager of a booth ought 
to have from three to six helpers. It is the duty of 
these helpers to popularize their particular booth, 
make as many sales as possible and at the same time 
entertain the visitors. 

The director-general should call a meeting of all 
the booth managers and helpers and impress upon 
their minds the importance of strict attention to their 
duties. The object of the county fair is to make money 
and each one should have this constantly in mind. 

The decoration of the hall and of the booths 
ought to be very elaborate. The prevailing scheme 
for all of the decorations must be the products of 
the farm, and the leaves, bulbs, grasses and flowers 
that grow wild. Each booth should be very care- 
fully decorated with cornstalks, sheaves and heads 
of wheat, oats, rye, barley, pumpkins, squashes, 
pretty vines, forest leaves, or anything grown on 
the farm or in the woods that will add beauty to 
your booth. The director of each booth should 
have charge of the decorations for her booth and 
she should be assisted by her committee. There 
ought to be a healthy rivalry as to who will have 
the prettiest and most tastefully decorated booth. 
Several of the booths may be entirely enclosed, 
leaving little doorways for entrance and exit. 
There are splendid opportunities for artistic decora- 
tions, and if each manager decorates her own booth 



26 ENTERTAINMENTS 

the natural rivalry will bring out the best results. 
In many of the booths there should be small tables 
and chairs so your guests may sit down while being 
served. The size of each booth must be governed 
by what it is to be used for. In the center of the 
hall there ought to be scattered through the entire 
length a number of chairs, settees, etc., so that any 
person could sit when tired. However, the general 
object is to have them rest in the booths. 

Several cozy corners mi'ght be partitioned off by 
curtains, the floor covered with rugs and the room 
furnished with easy chairs. These would be delight- 
ful corners for a nice rest and quiet conversation, or 
for a tete-a-tete with a friend or friends away from 
the crowd. A keeper of the door should be ap- 
pointed for these places also, and a charge of five 
or ten cents made for the use of the cozy corner. 

If the ladies think it wise, donations may be 
solicited in advance for the fair. Besides provis- 
ions, there might be secured jellies, cakes, preserves 
and jams, which, together with articles made by the 
members themselves, can be sold during the fair. 

We have given but a rough outline of the County 
Fair. The details may be worked out as best suit 
the societies and the conditions surrounding them. 
The fair ought to be held every afternoon and even- 
ing for three or four days. Carriages ought to be 
at your disposal every afternoon in order that you 
can bring out the aged and infirm and give them a 
few hours of enjoyment. Keep constantly in mind 
that, while the object of the fair is to earn money, 
there will be many opportunities for doing good 
and adding to the happiness of others. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 27 

General entertainment ought to be provided for 
each evening. From time to time order may be 
obtained and a selection of music or a recitation 
given. It would be well to provide for several 
vocal and instrumental selections, as well as -other 
entertainment for each evening. If you can obtain 
one or more mandolin and guitar players it will 
add greatly to the enjoyment. 

Great care should be exercised in making the 
booths that they be made substantial and not easily 
thrown down. Special precaution should also be 
observed in lighting the hall and the booths to 
avoid all danger of fire. Impress upon the minds 
of the young ladies their duties, so that they 
will not spend their entire time in entertaining a 
comparatively few. A great deal of tact may be 
exercised by them in entertaining the people and 
promoting the financial success of their respective 
booths. They must not, however, run down one 
another's booths. 

A small charge of ten cents for adults and five 
cents for children should be made at the door. This 
entertainment can easily be made to clear from $I00 

to $1,000. 



A nOCK TRIAL. 



A trial always interests a large number of per- 
sons, as every one knows who has watched the 
average audience in a court room. It is not so 
much that people love to see justice dealt out with 
a steady hand, as it is that something in human 



28 ENTERTAINMENTS 

nature, which theologians call original sin, and evo- 
lutionists trace to our fighting ancestors, that en- 
thuses over a fight, be it a foot-ball game or a 
contest of wits. 

For the long winter evenings nothing will draw 
better than a mock trial, if it is well worked up. 
There are in every community prospective disciples 
of Blackstone who will enter heartily into any 
scheme that will test their power as lawyers. It 
would be better to have regular lawyers to conduct 
the case, but if none are available, the young men 
should secure the advice and help of a lawyer 
friend. Two lawyers on a side will be enough. 
An able man will act as judge. It is not necessary 
that the judge know any law; let him be sober, dig- 
nified and owl-like. The object of the trial is not 
to bring out fine points of law, or to dispense justice 
with an even hand; it is to make fun. Nothing vul- 
gar, undignified or disrespectful should be allowed. 

What the case set for trial should be will be de- 
termined from a knowledge of the people before 
whom the trial is to take place. What would inter- 
est one community might not another. 

A breach of promise suit brought by a young 
man against a young lady would prove interesting. 
The young woman should be a very capable one, 
clever at acting, thoroughly self-possessed and good 
looking. She impersonates a dashing young widow. 

The indictment against the young widow has 
been returned, and she is charged with trifling with 
the affections of a bachelor of the community. Suit 
is instituted for damages. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 29 

The court opens in regular form, the easels called 
up, and the plaintiff and the defendant with their law- 
yers take their places inside the rail. The defend- 
ant's attorne3's attempt to have the case postponed, 
but without success, and the work of impaneling the 
jury begins. The plaintiff's attorneys aim to get old 
maids and married women on the jury; the defend- 
ant wants young, impressionable men over whom the 
charm of beauty would have an effect. A great 
deal of fun can be made in getting the jury by taking 
off the average jurymen. Some such colloquy as this 
will take place after the name, etc., has been given: 

"Ever heard of this case?" 

'•No." 

"Have you any prejudice against matrimony?" 

"No." 

"Ever hear of such a thing as breach of promise ?" 

"No." 

"Do you know anything about anything?" 

"Don't know nothing?" 

Both sides accept him as an ideal juror. Then 
there will be the old maid who is anxious to get on 
the jury because she thinks the widow ought to be 
convicted. Various other relatives and friends will 
be anxious to get on. The impaneling of the jury 
will make lots of fun if it is well worked up, and 
practiced. Finally a jury of ten young men and two 
old maids (young ladies dressed as old maids) is 
secured. The widow smiles upon the young men, who 
immediately make up their minds to a verdict of 
"not guilty;" the old maids frown and are equally as 
decided, no matter what the evidence, to bring in a 
verdict of "guilty." 



30 ENTERTAINMENTS 

The taking of testimony is begun. The follow- 
ing will serve as a substitute for the oath. "Close 
your right eye. Do you willingly affirm that you 
will maintain the same attitude towards Truth that 
you would in a horse trade; that you will tell so 
much or the truth as will help your side of the case, 
believing that Truth is mighty and will prevail any- 
way." The answer: "I so affirm." 

The witness box is now the center of interest and 
the witnesses should represent "types." The woman 
who insists on telling about everything except what 
she knows about the case, and declares, upon being 
caught up by the attorneys that she is "just coming 
to that;" the timid witness, the indignant witness and 
the vindictive witness, all are represented. There is the 
Irish witness, fresh from Cork, with his rich brogue. 
When asked by the attorneys for his address, think- 
ing that they mean for him to make an address, 
get up, bows to the judge, the jury, and the audience 
and says. "I did not know that I was to make an 
addris to this assimbly, but since yez honor me, I 
will spake to ye on the Silver Question" — and off he 
starts with much enthusiasm and gesticulations. The 
lawyers finally get him stopped and explain that 
they want to know where he lives. The proper 
question to start the Irishman off on his "speech" is 
"you may now give your address." 

During the taking of testimony everything favor- 
able to the widow is indelibly impressed upon the 
minds of the ten jurymen by her smile; the old 
maids are frantic. When unfavorable testimony is 
given the widow puts on an innocent, martyr-like 
appealing look; the old maids are jubilant; the 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE 31 

young men pay no heed to the testimony, but look 
sympathetically toward the beautiful widow. 

The young men of the jury are not the only ones 
brought under the spell of the fair defendant; the 
judge, too, after repeated efforts to be impartial, 
finally succumbs to her witchery. 

The evidence all in, the lawyers make their pleas. 
Here is a chance for some clever work. The plain- 
tiff uses all the arguments for his client that would 
be used if his client were a woman; the defendant's 
attorneys, knov/ing that the ten jurymen and the 
judge are "all right," ignore the testimony, and 
direct all their argument against the old maids, who 
finally relent when appealed to as "young ladies." 
During the argument the defendant keeps up her 
acting, responding to varying moods as pictured by 
the attorneys. The judge, although the testimony is 
overwhelmingly in favor of the widow's conviction, 
charges the jury to bring in a verdict for her acquit- 
tal. This they do, and the costs of the case are 
charged against the plaintiff. The widow, through 
her attorneys, gives notice that she will commence 
a suit for $25,000 damages against the plaintiff for 
malicious prosecution, and court adjourns. 

The impaneling of the jury, the testimony, the 
lawyers' arguments and the judge's charge should be 
carefully prepared, and the w^hole thing practiced 
until it can be given well. We have merely sug- 
gested what to do; to give the trial in full would be 
beyond the limits of this little book. 

Two evenings should be given to the trial; the 
first evening taking up to the arguments of the law- 
yers. A fifteen-cent admission fee is charged for 
each evening. 



32 ENTERTAINMENTS 

THOUGHTS AND WHEELS. 



A man who would join an anarchist club if he 
were compelled to walk fifteen miles in working, 
will go as many miles over the golf links and tell 
everybody he is having one of the best times imagin- 
able; a boy who is just so tired he can't move, if there 
are weeds to pull, will break amateur records going 
towards the "old swimming hole;" the man who is 
so utterly fagged out that he can't go into the next 
room for his slippers, will go down to the club and 
walk five miles around a billard table, part of the 
time on one leg, with the other one on the table; and 
the girl who would not think of running the risk of 
overtaxing her energies by walking eight blocks 
down town will cover fifteen miles on a dancing floor 
and declare that "It is just too lovely for anything." 
Human nature is peculiar. It makes lots of differ- 
ence whether a thing is work or play, how much of 
it one can do. If golf were work, there is not a 
farmer's boy in the country whose constitution could 
stand it; if the business man had to walk five miles 
to prayer meeting he wouldn't, and his wife wouldn't 
let him, thus wear himself out; and the father who 
would insist that his daughter walk six miles on an 
errand would be counted as cruel and inhuman. 

So it is in raising money. The person who has 
"a scheme to raise money" meets with twice as much 
success as the person who has none. If you can 
make it appear more like fun than work, you will 
succeed from the start. That is why the "wheel" is 
a good method for raising money. This is the plan: 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 33 

One of your best workers is constituted the "hub" of 
the wheel; ten other prominent workers are chosen 
to act as "spokes"; and each spoke has the privilege 
of appointing ten "sub-spokes." The amount of money 
to be raised is then apportioned by the hub to the 
spokes, and each spoke with the help of her sub- 
spokes becomes responsible for that amount. If 
$100 are to be raised each of the ten spokes takes 
$io; if $500 each takes $^o. The sub-spokes need 
not all be women unless your society is large. Young 
men will do for sub-spokes. 

Now, theoretically, it would be just as easy for one 
hundred in your society to raise one dollar each and 
turn it in to the treasurer as to raise it by the wheel 
method; but, practically, half of them would not do 
it. The wheel will create interest. There will be 
good natured rivalry between the spokes; none will 
want to fail. It is not work now; it is a kind of a 
game and all want to win. 

There are many ways for the spokes to earn their 
money. The spoke may apportion the money to 
the sub-spokes, and act as overseer, or can work 
together as a company, give sociables or entertain- 
ments, cater for some party, organize an excursion 
or trolley party, get up a scheme of advertising, get 
in a lecturer or musical company, or some other of 
the many ways of earning money. Part of the 
spokes should apportion the money for the sub- 
spokes to raise, else socials and entertainments be 
over-worked. The sub-spokes will find many novel 
ways of earning money. Those who are skillful at 
fancy work will do that. Some will knit slippers; 
some will bake; some will sell books. Others will 



34 ENTERTAINMENTS 

sell plants and flowers, or make shirtwaists, or econ- 
omize in their personal expenditure. 

It is a good plan at the beginning of the year to 
set the mark of how much money your society can 
raise and then assign to each spoke one month in 
the year for socials and entertainments. She, know- 
ing weeks beforehand that her division will be held 
responsible for that month, will plan all the year 
for it, and give something worth while. This plan, 
too, will distribute the work. Try the wheel. 



HOLLOWCEN PARTIES. 



That All Hollow Even, or HoUow'een, is the time 
when the spirits hold high revel upon earth no 
orthodox believer in folk lore will deny. Some 
cynical property owner, who on the morning of 
November ist, finds the front gate on the front porch 
and other evidences of spirit action, maiy declare that 
the fairy that wrought there had taken possession 
temporarily of a stout mischevious boy; he may 
state further before he gets said gate back to its 
place that had he been there at the time he would 
have succeeded in exorcising the spirit by the lay- 
ing on of hands. But the belief of the boastful 
cynic will have no weight against the accredited 
traditions of centuries that on that night witches, 
fairies, elves, kelpies, and the like come into closer 
communion with mortals than is their wont, and that 
if sought by the proper charms will reveal many 
things of the future. Especially does Cupid deign 
to disclose what he has in store for anxious lovers. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 35 

A Hollow'een Party will furnish the means of put- 
ting to a test the methods of obtaining this much 
desired information. 

As spirits love not the glare of light but dwell 
in the dark and dank places of earth, in the deep 
dells of the forest, let your place of entertainment be 
decorated in such manner as to invite these creatures 
of the night and air. Decorate with green boughs, 
autumn leaves and Jack-o-lanterns. The more of 
these lanterns the better, for they, in proper arrange- 
ment, will give the necessary weird and uncanny 
appearance to the room. All know how Jack-o- 
lanterns are made from pumpkins, with the insides 
scooped out and incisions made for the eyes and the 
nose and the mouth. These can be made to assume 
various expressions by the manner of cutting the 
eyes and the mouth. There is the vicious Jack-o- 
lantern with fierce, gleaming teeth; the melancholy 
one with mouth drawn down; the smiling one with 
the ends of the lips pointed up; and the surprised one 
with big, round eyes and round mouth. Dress up a 
couple ot "dummies" with two smiling Jack-o-lanterns 
for heads, and place them on each side of the walk 
outside the door. Just on the inside of the entrance 
is another dummy, dressed as a ghost, with a smiling 
Jack-o-lantern for a head, so arranged that some one 
may stand behind it and work the hands. A figure 
dressed in ghostly attire tends the door. Each 
guest is presented by the door tender to the Jack-o- 
lantern. As they turn to greet him the voice from 
behind says in a sepulchral voice "Glad to see you, 
sir," and pushes out a hand formed of a glove filled 
with wet sawdust, sand and ice for the guest to 



36 ENTERTAINMENTS 

shake. The sensations as the guest takes the pre- 
ferred hand can be better imagined than described. 
Dropping the hand the guest turns to be meet with 
the sight of another dummy dressed as a woman, 
with a surprised Jack-o-lantern for a head. Going into 
the room, lighted dimly with candles and the light 
shining from the faces of the Jack-o-lanterns, one 
sees various other shades wondering about. When 
the guests have all arrived, these disappear and the 
evening's festivities begin. Each one wants to try 
all the charms that will help them read the future. 

If you have two lovers and are not clear in your 
mind which j^ou prefer, an apple seed named for 
each is placed on the eyelids and the girl closes her 
eyes with a snap. If one seed remains, that young 
man is the favorite. Tradition supplies no remedy 
when both fall down. For the young men an 
equally reliable method of determining their fate 
is the charm known as the "snap apple." It 
is played in this manner : A number of apples 
are marked to correspond with the names of young 
ladies, and tossed into a tub of water. The young 
person who tries the charm kneels beside the 
tub and tries to catch one of the bobbing apples 
with his teeth. If he succeeds, which is doubtful, 
he will some day marry her whose name corresponds 
to the mark on the apple. Another way for both 
the lads and lassies to know what the fates have in 
store for them is to "bob" for apples in the tub of 
water. The fortunes are written on a paper and 
pushed into an incision in the apple. 

An especially quaint and time-honored observ- 
ance is that of placing three deep dishes on a table 



- OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 37 

and pouring clear water into one, clouded water 
into the second, and leaving the third empty. A 
person is blindfolded and led up to where the dishes 
stand. The left hand is dipped in, and if by chance 
it finds its way into the clear water, the future 
spouse will be a bachelor or a maid. If the hand 
dips into the clouded water, one's fate will be a 
widower or a widow; while if into the empty dish, 
it is absolutely certain that one's life will be spent 
in single blessedness. To have the charm work 
unfailingly it must be repeated three times, and 
every time, of course, the arrangement of the dishes 
must be changed. 

A ceremony especially observed by young swains 
rather than maidens, is the walking along a slender 
but stout pole laid across two stools. A lighted 
candle is at the one end of the pole and under it a 
tub of water. The lover, carrying a candle in his 
hand, must walk the pole and light his candle from 
the one at the end of the pole. The possibility that 
he will land in the tub of water adds zest to the 
game. 

There are many other charms, such as the par- 
ing of an apple and throwing the peeling over your 
left shoulder, and noting that it forms the initials of 
your lover's name; the placing of three hazel nuts, 
named after three favorites, on the hearth, and not- 
ing that those which burst or jump will be faithless, 
while those that burn or blaze will be forever true; 
going down the stairs backwards and holding a 
lighted candle above the head, and suddenly turning 
on the last stair to see the face of your future hus- 
band or wife, as the case may be. 



38 ENTERTAINMENTS 

The games and charms will fill the evening full 
until time for refreshments. Let the supper be an 
old fashioned one, with plenty of pumpkin pie, 
baked apples, doughnuts and nuts. After supper, 
when the lights grow dim again, and the guests are 
seated about on rugs and stools, the ghosts reappear 
and recite weird and harrowing tales. A voice 
comes from one of the most ferocious looking Jack- 
o-lantern figures to tell some hair-lifting story of 
mystery. When the Hallow 'een party is over each 
guest will be more than ever convinced that the 
spirits are abroad. 

Of course the party is for the young people; the 
older people, no doubt, will find their evening fully 
taken up with answering door bells and watching 
front gates. 

The social committee will find that to entertain 
on Hallow 'een will require much planning and a 
great deal of work, but they will be repaid in the 
enjoyment that such entertainment gives. Have 
everything ready for the games and charms. Allow 
nothing to drag, and see that all are entering into 
the spirit of the occasion. Hallow 'een comes but 
once a year. Keep up the quaint old traditions of 
the night. 



THE A\UA\ SOCIAL. 



Have announced the Sunday preceding that: "The 
young ladies of the congregation will entertain at 

the church parlors on the following evening, 

and promise all who come a quiet but enjoyable 
time." The day before the evening distribute 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 39 

circulars bearing the words "Mum — Come" with the 
date of the sociable and the place. This will excite 
the curiosity of the people, and curiosity once excited 
insures a good attendance. When all have gathered, 
strangers introduced, etc., the chairman of the social 
committee, explains the nature of the evening's 
entertainment. Something like the following may 
be used by way of introduction: 

"In the eastern part of Iowa surrounded by roll- 
ing prairie, in the seclusion and loneliness of a quiet 
farming community stands a monastery, known 
locally, as the Silent Brotherhood. There is but one 
other in the United States, located in Kentucky. 
The monks have taken the vow of silence. Day 
after day they work side by side busied with the cares 
of the immense farm or the shop or the dairy. Yet 
they hold no converse with their brothers, but per- 
form their duties in silence; and were it not for the 
cowled figures moving about one might think he had 
come upon a veritable deserted village. Some of 
our bachelor friends have insinuated, on occasion, that 
such a religious organization would be impossible 
among women. To convince these and other mem- 
bers of the sterner sex how little they know about 
women and how much easier it is for women to 
remain silent than it is for men, a practical test has 
been arranged called the Mum Social." She then 
explains that there is a penalty for talking, a fine of 
so much for every breach of the rule. Games are pro- 
vided in which conversation is not necessary, panto- 
mimes acted, tableaus, living pictures, instrumental 
music, etc. These will do for a while. Of course the 
silence will not long remain unbroken. Some either 



40 ENTERTAINMENTS 

through force of habit or because they cannot longer 
endure a speechless existence will talk; these are 
promptly fined and once assessed themselves they 
will do all in their power to bring others into the 
clutches of the fine committee. Very few will be 
able to resist the combined assaults of the silence 
breakers and endure until the end. Of course the 
social committee are allowed to talk and will use 
their ingenuity, as at other socials, to get the people 
to talk. No whispering is allowed, and is fined the 
same as talking. A fine of ten or fifteen cents will be 
penalty enough, and this with the extra charge for 
light refreshments will make the treasurer feel that 
the social has not been given in vain. 

There will be more fun in the Mum Social than 
you would at first think. Many amusing things will 
happen, and various sign languages introduced all to 
fail when at an unguarded moment one forgets 
there is a fine and speaks. 



THE LIGHTNING DRILL SOCIAL. 



The whole evening is not taken up with the 
Lightning Drill. That is only to be one of the 
features, and to serve as a means of calling attention 
to the social. People like something out of the 
ordinary. But while it lasts the Lightning Drill is 
intensely interesting and furnishes after it is over 
no end of talk, as mistakes are discussed. Advertise 
it well, as the Lightning Drill Social. Keep the 
details a secret and get the people's curiosity excited. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 41 

"It is a trained company that will go through mili- 
tary maneuvers with lightning like rapidity or what 
is it?" and the more such questions the ingenious 
social committee can stimulate the larger the attend- 
ance. 

The night of the social have provided a lot of 
lead pencils and paper, so that each guest may be 
provided. Arrange the audience so that the min- 
isters, the school teachers and the prominent church 
people are on the front seats. Insist that all take 
part. Distribute the paper and the pencils and ask 
that the name of the holder be written at the top, 
and the lines numbered from one to twenty-five. You 
then explain that the Lightning Drill is to test their 
quick wit, observation, and memory; that the questions 
you are to give are those well known and easily 
answered, when one has time to think, but that in 
this drill the answers are to be put down immediately — 
without stopping to think — that no mistakes are to be 
corrected when once passed, no whispering, and that 
there will be no repetition of the question. Let the 
member who takes charge of this be an annimated 
speaker and the audience will get some of her 
enthusiasm, and keyed up for the drill, not taking 
time to weigh the question and thinking only of the 
answer they can be led into many ludicrous mistakes. 
Of course there is no hint that any are catch ques- 
tions. When all are ready the leader gives the 
questions, allowing only time to write the answer until 
the next is given, and filling in the time talking — 
and remember that it is a lightning drill, and that 
there is to be no time for meditation. Give the num- 
ber of each question and insist that the answer, if any, 



42 ENTERTAINMENTS 

be written opposite its number. The following are 
the questions. 

1. Who is president of the United States? 

2. Name of England's Queen? 

3. Name the two U. S. Senators from your state? 

4. How many legs has a fly? 

5. What was your mother's maiden name? 

6. The color of your eyes? 

7. Name the governor of your state? 

8. Have you retid the Bible through? 

9. Have you read the second chapter of Jude? 

10. Have you read the second Epistle to the Collosians? 

11. Who is speaker of the house? 

12. How many counties in your state? 

13. Who built the ark? 

14. Who killed Cain? 

15. Does a horse in rising get up in front or behind first? 

16. Who swallowed the whale? 

17. Does a cow in rising get up in front or behind first? 

18. Name a prominent Englishman. 

19. Name a prominent Erenchman, German, Irishman? 

20. Name two women of the United States of national 
reputation. 

21. Is the Book of Enoch in the old or new Testament? 

22. Which is heavier a pound of gold or a pound of 
feathers. 

23. How many books in the Old Testament? 

24. How many in the New Testament? 

25. Does a horse in bitting off grass push its mouth 
away from, or toward its body. 

As soon as the last question is answered, iinmedv- 
ately the papers are passed to the end of the seat 
and collected. They are then turned over to a com- 
mittee who examine them. The drill over the com- 
pany will have no trouble the rest of the evening for 
something to talk about. 

A g^reat deal of fun will be had when the examin- 
ing committee makes their report. It should be 
made by a good talker who can comment interestingly 



OF A SOCIAL NATUKE. 43 

on the papers. It will probably be found that the 
minister in a spirit of reckless haste has boldly 
asserted that Jonah swallowed a whale; the school 
teacher will be equally certain that Abel killed Cain; 
and the Sunday School superintendent and other 
prominent church men will declare that they have 
read both the second chapter of Jude and the second 
Epistle to the Collosians. Others will be equally 
positive that the Book of Enoch will be found in the 
Old Testament Canon; and the number who do not 
know their mother's maiden name will be a surprise 
to those who think Americans have gone daft on the 
subject of ancestry. Bald headed men who have 
been fighting flies off their dome of thought all sum- 
mer will hazard the guess that a fly has at least a 
dozen legs; and the number of farm bred men and 
women who can not tell whether a cow gets up in 
front or behind first will be a surprise. The chair- 
man of the examining committee reads the most 
ludicrous mistakes and by commenting wittily upon 
them can make a great deal of fun. 

Very few people can think accurately and rapidly, 
and although Americans have an international reputa- 
tion for quick thought and action yet very few will 
go through the lightning drill without stumbling. 



THE PICTURE GAA\E. 



All social committees agree that the main thing 
in the success of gatherings is to get the people 
interested and doing something. A hostess who 
chooses her company sometimes finds that it takes 



44 ENTERTAINMENTS 

all her ingenuity to keep up a general interest in the 
conversation, to keep out unpleasant topics, and to 
prevent hobby riders from monopolizing the time. 
How much more difficult it is for the social com- 
mittee of the society, who have as guests **all sorts 
and conditions of men," not to say anything about 
the women, is only known to those who have filled 
both positions. 

How to draw out the bashful young man who 
blushes much and says little; how to curb the 
enthusiasm of the smart young man, who thinks he 
is the object of universal coveteousness, talks much 
and says little; how to repress the giddy young 
thing whose tongue has a way of keeping about 
four sentences ahead of her thinking; and how to 
make the tired and reticent woman, who rarely gets 
away from home and has little enjoyment in life, 
forget for a time her household cares and herself in 
an evening's enjoyment — are some of the problems 
that every social committee has to solve. 

One way of getting the people to circulating and 
talking is the following: 

Cut out of the papers and magazine advertise- 
ments the pictures. If the paper is not very heavy, 
paste them on thin card board and cut into several 
pieces. These pieces are shaken up in a basket, and 
on the evening of the social each guest is given a 
picture, with instructions to find the other pieces 
and restore the picture. Each picture is, of course, 
cut into enough pieces so that the restoration is not 
too easy a task. All the pieces must be out, too. 
The ingenuity displayed by those who carve the 
pictures will cause much amusement. Given the 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 45 

right hind foot of a centaur, with instructions to 
restore the animal, the guest may not deserve as 
much credit as the scientist who restores a bird 
which lived thousands of years ago and left no other 
evidence of its ever having lived than a bird track 
preserved in the rock, but he will go about his work 
with as much enthusiasm as does the scientist. 

There will be a great deal of fun in it. Two who 
have found pieces to match will go together in quest 
of other fragments. Each person will naturally 
want to complete the picture before another finishes, 
and this rivalry will stimulate the interest already 
excited. The object of course is not so much the 
restoration of the picture as getting the people to 
move about and talk with others. And these 
pictures furnish an excellent method of accomplish- 
ing this. The balance of the evening will be much 
more enjoyed when the ice is thus broken. 



THE GRAPHAPHONE SOCIAL. 



That the man who invented the graphaphone had 
in mind the trials and tribulations a social committee 
experiences in securing music for church socials is 
not at all probable. Whether he did or not does not 
alter the fact that the graphaphone can be made a 
very helpful adjunct in the way of entertainment, 
especially during the summer when musicians are 
too tired or too listless to put forth extra effort. 

The graphaphone, though no longer the novelty 
it was a while ago, still excites the wonder and 



46 ENTERTAINMENTS 

curiosity of people. Comparatively few have heard 
it; still fewer have listened to it so often that they are 
tired of it. The announcement of such a social will 
therefore excite interest, and people will come 
expecting something novel in the way of entertain- 
ment. The whole evening is not necessarily taken 
up with the graphaphone; it only need take the 
place of musical numbers. The meeting is informal, 
with the usual social and refreshments. 

If no one in your society has a graphaphone, one 
may be rented for the evening. Some one in town 
will have one. Go over the selections previous to 
the social and see if they are appropriate. The 
graphaphone is not always a respectable member of 
society. It does not always speak the language of 
Canaan. At a recent graphaphone party the Sab- 
bath School superintendent had rented a machine 
without telling the dealer the kind of entertainment 
it was expected to give. The things that grapha- 
phone had to say were neither helpful nor edifying. 
The crowd at the social was large. The minister 
sat on the front seat beaming with delight; the boys 
sat well up to the front, expectant. Feeling especi- 
ally grateful, the minister opened the exercises with 
prayer. The superintendent followed with a talk 
on the invention, the inventor, and ended by cau- 
tioning the small boys to be quiet and attentive. 
The first number was turned on and proved, much 
to the surprise of everybody, to be a song-and-dance 
specialty by Bowery Pete and Maggie Murphy, in 
which profanity, coarse jest and obscene language 
predominated. The machine was grinding out rag- 
time music, and Pete and Maggie evidently were 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 47 

doing various high jinks. The minister gave a gasp 
and settled down in his seat. The superintendent, 
not knowing how to stop the thing, looked appeal- 
ingly to the audience. Several visiting members of 
the other church got up and went out, and finally 
the minister bundled the wicked Maggie and Pete 
under his arm, as they were singing, "There'll be a 
Hot Time in the Old Town To-night," and carried 
them out of the room. That ended the grapha- 
phone social. Of course, the superintendent was 
innocent, but a coldness sprang up between the 
minister and that official. When you give your 
social be sure and get an "expurgated edition" of 
the graphaphone. 



THE HOME MADE COOK BOOK. 



Every community has a number of women, who, 
like Riley's 'Lisabeth Ann, "can cook best things to 
eat." Some are famous as general cooks, others are 
noted for special dishes. Mrs. Brown's cake and 
Mrs. Gray's salad and Mrs. Smith's coffee are known 
the neighborhood over, and no one, however well 
supplied with cook books, is able to discover the 
secret of their success. And there never was another 
and probably never will be, who could make such 
cookies, such ginger bread and such pumpkin pies 
"as mother used to make." And many a man, whose 
wife is a graduate of a cooking school and knows 
hygiene by the book; who knows the properties of 
all food, just what he ought to eat for breakfast and 



i8 ENTERTAINMENTS 

what for dinner, and just the hour and minute he 
ought to eat it; who has studied her husband's 
needs as a physician — many a man so blessed with a 
scientific wife, has looked back with longing to his 
boyhood days and sighed: 

"Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight. 
And make me a boy again, just for to-night." 

Though his mother knew no chemistry and he 
never dreamed of such a thing, yet she knew the 
things that were good for a fellow to eat; and look- 
ing back through the mists that gather about those 
now glorious boyhood days, he is willing to declare 
upon oath that all (nearly) the cooking lore, the 
carefully treasured secrets of the grandmothers and 
"mammies," from time immemorial, were known to 
his mother, and that she wrought with magician's 
skill the commonest things into such exquisite crea- 
tions as filled all his soul with poetry; and he lays 
flowers of rhetoric, in humble tribute, at the shrine 
of one whom memory ever calls up to bless. 

Your husband is not an isolated example. We 
have the accumulated authority of many husbands, 
who have insisted, on occasion, that what "mother" 
did not know about cooking could be contained in a 
very small book. It is equally certain that the 
mothers of to-day, will be similarly shrined by the 
next generation of husbands. It is a way the men 
have. If the wives of today had the recipes for the 
dishes that the mothers used to make, about which 
the husbands now come nearer to talking in blank 
verse than upon any other subject since the days of 
courtship, and could occasionally provide in the old 
fashioned way, and insist that the husbands partake 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 49 

bountifully, it would no doubt dispel some of the 
cherished illusions of youth. 

Whether the mothers and grandmothers, with no 
women's clubs to attend, were better cooks than 
the wives and daughters of to-day is not our prov- 
ince, now, to discuss. Certain it is that there were 
then, as there are now, many " 'Lisabeth x\nns." 

What a cook book it would make if all these 
"best things" were gotten together and published, 
not necessarily for a weapon for future wives to use 
on future husbands, but for the purpose of preserv- 
ing good recipes. That is what we propose. This 
is the plan: Get each of the ladies to write her 
recipe for that with which she has had her greatest 
success, and sign her name to it. In this way you 
will get fifty, a hundred or more recipes, each one 
vouched for by a person you know. These are then 
classified— i. e., recipes for cakes in one place, pud- 
dings in another, etc. — and published. ..] 

To cover the cost of printing the booklet, adver- 
tisements are solicited. There will be no difficulty 
in securing sufficient money in this way to cover the 
cost of printing. If your society is in a city or a 
larger town, something can be made on the adver- 
tising alone. Decide upon the number of pages — 
one recipe to a page, or if you have a large number, 
two— you will have, and then submit it to the printer 
for an estimate of the cost. You will then know how 
much advertising you will have to secure. Make 
the advertising rates high enough so that you will 
not have to mar the appearance of the book by too 
much space devoted to this. Local pride of the 
merchants will respond to your efforts, and they will 



50 ENTERTAINMENTS 

want to be represented in the "book written and 
published at home." 

These books are sold in the community for ten 
or fifteen cents. Every sale is so much clear gain 
for your treasury. 

Where the community is not large, and the sale 
of your book would be, necessarily, limited, you can 
dispense with the cost of printing by having each 
one write out her own recipe, in ink, sign it, and 
duplicate this page as many times as the number of 
books you expect to get out. The advertisements 
can be copied in, in colored ink, by some one skilled 
with the pen. All the cost you will have will be the 
small outlay for paper and binding; or, better still, 
buy blank books. 

This will take considerable work, but will the 
labor expended be any more than in the getting up 
of a social or a supper? 

The value of the book will be very much greater if 
written, for you have each one's handwriting, and as 
the years go by, and one by one the writers pass on, 
you will prize, as a treasure, your home-made cook 
book, not only for the worth of the recipes, but also 
for the memories its pages recall. It will be an auto- 
graph album worth keeping. One of the most 
prized of a large number of Christmas gifts received 
by a friend of ours, last year, was a book of this kind, 
from her former home, written by friends she knew 
and loved. 

From ten to fifty dollars can be made in this way. 
Do not allow a stranger to come in and carry out the 
plan for you. A number of societies have been vic- 
timized in this way. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 61 

The idea is a clever one, easily carried out, and 
your society will be interested in doing something 
out of the ordinary. 



AN EVENING WITH SCOTCH SONG 
AND STORY. 



No one reads the history of Scotland without form- 
ing a deep admiration for Scottish character. To 
have a keen appreciation of the glory of her past, 
to love her poets and to sing her songs, is to have 
attained the second highest honor possible to man. 
The highest honor, a gift reserved only for choice 
spirits, is to be born a Scot. 

That little country has had a wonderful influence 
upon the world's progress. There are no more fas- 
cinating pages in history than the story of her strug- 
gles for civil and religious liberty; her bards, with 
wonderful necromancy, call the dead out of their 
graves and make them play over again their stirring 
drama; and, although commonly reported that the 
height of a Scotchman's desire, in music, is to hear 
twelve pipers playing twelve different tunes at the 
same time, in a room twelve feet square, yet their 
songs have touched the deepest springs of human 
experience; and the Sweet Scottish ballads, with a 
melody as peculiar and charming as is the Scotch 
character, itself, have sung themselves into the heart 
of the world. 

The study of Scotland, her history, her literature 
and her people, gives one a higher ideal of the dig- 
nity of manhood; it warms the heart to more heroic 



62 ENTERTAINMENTS 

service and makes one stand a little more nearly erect 
as he faces the duties and difficulties of life. Little 
wonder that the Scotchman is proud of his ancestry! 

"An evening with Scotch Song and Story" will 
make a delightful entertainment. The program may 
be arranged as follows: 

If you have a piper in the community let the pro- 
gram be opened with a selection from the bagpipes. 
A good plan is to have the piper in the anteroom or 
outside, and play so that' the pipes can be but faintly 
heard by the audience, the notes growing in volume 
as he nears and bursting forth in all their melody as 
he passes into the hall. The piper, arrayed in High- 
land costume, will be enthusiastically received. It 
makes a very pretty first number. 

Song -"The Blue Bells of !?cotland." 

Scotland— "It's Pliysical Features; Noted Scenery; The 
Occupation of Her People;" will make an interesting theme. 

Solo -"VVae's Nae tor Prince Charlie." 

Recitation— "Auld Kobin Gray." 

Paper— "J he Poets of Scotland." Every Scot is more or 
less a poet, and the reason for it is said to be because the 
Scotch people are saturated witli the sublime poetry of the 
Old Testament. 

Piano-" A Scotch Song Without Words." 

Recitation- "For A' That, A' That." 

Song— "Annie Laurie." 

Paper— ".-'cottish Traits: Their Strong Common Sense; 
Their Industry; Their Humor; 'Jheir Fidelity to Friends; 
and Their Strong Religious Feeling." 

Solo— "Caller Herrin." 

Reading -Selections from "The Little Minister," "Beside 
the Bonnie Briar Bush," or "Auld Lang Syne." The "Doctor 
of the Old School" would be appropriate. 

Song-"We'd Better Bide a Wee." 

Recitation — "Dunkan Gray Cam' Here to Woo.* 

Song— "Old Lang Syne," by the audience. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 63 

If you have among your number those who have 
traveled in Scotland, press them into service to tell 
of their impressions and experience. Those, who 
have lived there, will be glad to tell of the dear old 
home land. The minister, especially if he is a Scotch- 
man, will be an enthusiastic worker for the program. 

The effect will be greatly heightened if those v/ho 
sing the Scotch songs are arrayed in the Scotch cos- 
tume. Have little girls, with dresses and shoulder 
sashes in Scotch plaids, act as ushers. 

A very pleasant feature may be added to the 
program by the repetition of Scotch stories, a fund 
of which may be had in any community, or from 
books. These should be especially prepared and 
assigned to one or more persons. There are Scotch- 
men in every community; be sure that they all 
attend. Have them tell of their childhood home — 
a Scotch brogue is most delightful to the ear; get 
those Scotchmen with the strongest brogue to take 
part, if you can. 

If refreshments are served they should be dis- 
tinctively Scottish dishes. 

No one can study the history of Scotland with- 
out profit, and to know her literature is to become 
familiar with some of the best things in print. "An 
Evening with Scotch Song and Story" can be made 
a delightful entertainment. 



54 ENTERTAINMENTS 

niLLINCRY SOCIABLE. 

In this up-and-doing world, the society that would 
win and hold the attention of the young people must 
present new and attractive entertainments. The old 
fashioned social, which consisted of two hours of 
standing about, because nothing was provided to do, 
or boisterous romping in lieu of anything else, and a 
desire to do something,' is "a story that has been 
told" with sadness by many a declining society. 
This is a novelty loving age, and people are on the 
alert for something out of the ordinary. 

The announcement of the ''millinery sociable" will 
cause any amount of curiosity — and some foreboding. 
Husbands and fathers whose purses have been made 
thinner by recent contact with milliners' bills will 
look startled, and vow enmity against any new mil- 
linery schemes, but the fears of these can easily be 
allayed by telling them that this sociable will be 
mainly in the hands of the gentlemen of the congre- 
gation, and many new and economical reforms will 
be introduced. It is usually profitable, and always 
interesting "to see ourselves as others see us," and 
the fact that the gentlemen are to discuss that intri- 
cate and baffling subject of millinery, will lend zest 
to the evening's entertainment. The subject is not 
baffling to men; it is very simple. A hood to keep 
the head warm in winter, and a hat to keep off the 
sun in summer, and there you are. 

Let the program start with a paper describing the 
different customs of different people in the matter of 
head dress; the customs of the far East compared 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 55 

with the West; the styles in different countries, Spain, 
China, Japan, Holland, Italy, etc. ; and the styles in the 
early days of our country compared with the hats 
now worn. This will be an interesting paper and no 
doubt will be very entertaining as the gentleman 
tries to find the reason for the changes in style. 

Have another, who is bright and witty, give a man's 
view of millinery. Men never understand women — 
although they think they do — and when it comes to 
their foibles and fancies in hats and bonnets, they 
stand in silent and worshipful awe. He can under- 
stand perfectly, why trousers of last spring's pattern 
do not answer for this spring's style, everybody must 
sec that, but why a woman's hat that is just as good 
as new, showing no evidences of wear at all, must be 
discarded and another one bought that looks exactly 
like the other one, is a deep and abiding mystery to 
him. And he never hopes to solve it satisfactorily 
to his wife, but he has a theory of his own, that all 
milliners are hypnotists and once getting a woman 
in their power, keep selling her the same things over 
and over again, and charging him double prices for 
them all the time; and secretly he holds a very poor 
opinion of his wife's intelligence along this line, only 
to find on coming home from church some day how 
very much superior must be the mind that can remem- 
ber more of the sermon than he can and tells, besides, 
every woman who had a new hat there, how it differed 
from her last one, and that too when all hats look as 
much alike as two beans. It is always interesting 
to get a man's view of millinery. 

If there is an artist in the community, per- 
suade him to give a talk on color, the different 



56 ENTERTAINMENTS 

customs of different countries in the way of head 
dress, from an artistic point ot view. This will be 
interesting and instructive. 

Have some one, who has been unfortunate enough, 
at church or some other public gathering, to have 
been placed behind a formation of hats, and after 
wrenching his back, unjointing his neck and gone 
through various other contortions in a vain and fruit- 
less effort to see over or under or between the hats, 
and catch a glimpse of the speaker, but was finally 
compelled to give it up, settle down to contemplate 
the wonderful "creations" which blocked his view 
and wonder whether the women supposed he came 
to church only to gaze at hats and bonnets — have 
such an one give a paper advocating the removal of 
hats at such public gatherings. It would better be 
a paper, for if he talks, he may, as he warms up 
with the subject, be led into violent and abusive 
language. 

Another talk, or paper, on wearing birds on hats 
would make a lively theme. By sending to '^Our 
Dumb Animals/' Boston, Mass., statistics will be 
furnished as to the number of birds that are annually 
sacrificed to adorn the hats of women. Picture the 
Sabbath School teacher, with her hat decorated with 
dead birds or pieces of birds, growing eloquent before 
her class, over the watchful care of the All Father, 
who notes even the fall of a sparrow — telling how 
gloomy would be this old world with no voice of 
song in wood or meadow, no bright plumaged bird 
flitting hither and yon to delight the eye — and how 
wicked it is to rob the nest of these feathered mes- 
sengers of love and joy. 



^ 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 57 

Of course all this is good natured criticism. Now 
that the gentlemen have given expression to their 
ideas on millinery, and suggested how simple, and 
still how beautiful, too, this line of work would be if 
only the same sane principles which characterize all 
their doings would be brought into vogue, the chair- 
man of the Ladies' Aid Society thanks the gentle- 
men for the many helpful suggestions they have 
given, tells them that the reason the women have 
not made more progress in this work has been mainly 
because they did not know how, and that now, the 
gentlemen will be given opportunity to put into 
practice the theories they have so eloquently ex- 
pounded, etc. Here is where the gentlemen get their 
surprise, and the ladies get even with them for all 
the criticism that has been made. 

One of the ladies has been previously appointed 
Milliner, and each of the young ladies attending the 
social has furnished her an untrimmed hat, together 
with the trimmings. The gentlemen, of course, know 
nothing about this last part of the program, and the 
secret must be strictly guarded. The chairman of 
the Ladies' Aid Society announces that the milliner 
has untrimmed hats lor sale, and that each of the 
gentlemen is to purchase from her one of the hats, 
find out the donor of it, trim it himself, and take the 
young lady to supper, she wearing the hat so trimmed 
by him. This is great fun. Some of the "wonderful 
creations of fancy" will not measure up to what Lodet, 
the man milliner of Paris, would have approved, but 
there will be found a great deal of originality dis- 
played, and if the effect is not artistic, the ladies can 
be assured that they will not be chagrined because 
somebody has a "hat just like hers." 



58 ENTERTAINMENTS 

The hats furnished the milliner are, of course, old 
hats, and the trimmings may be as fantastic as you 
want to make them. The idea is not to get an artistic 
effect, but to make fun. The price of a hat is the 
cost of two suppers. 

A great deal of fun may be gotten out of this 
sociable if it is only well managed. Be sure that the 
program leading up to the social is a strong one, and 
that the gentlemen are kept in ignorance ot the lat- 
ter part of the evening's entertainment. 



MEMORIAL DAY. 



In most of the churches Memorial Day services 
will be held, and Decoration Day will be observed. 
Fitting it is that this is so. 

It is a day of sadness and tears; of the stirring of 
old memories; of seeing, as the evening shadows 
gather, the shadowy forms of long ago loved ones, 
whose faces ever remain youthful, for they went out 
to die in Life's morning. It is a day for opening old 
albums, and looking at old fashioned pictures of boys 
scarcely grown, who went forth to do a man's part 
in the stern work of war. 

It is a day when you go off by yourself up to that 
old room, to that old chest to get the soldier letters 
and read them over again — letters that tell of camp, 
and prison and weary marches; and as you read, the 
old enthusiasm burns again and you are living the 
days of long ago. It was but last night your boy 
came home from the village meeting and told you 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 59 

he had enlisted. What you suffered no one can know; 
but you bravely tried to keep back the tears as you 
bade him God speed on the morrow, and saw through 
dimmed eyes the loved one march bravely away 
under fluttering banners and keeping time to the 
stern music of war. You see him yet as he steps out 
of the ranks at the turn of the road to wave you a 
last good bye; you read the cheery, buoyant, hope- 
ful letters of the training camp; follow with pride the 
early marches, and though you know that the Angel 
of Death reaps fast and furiously in times of war, yet 
believe that the good God will keep your boy for He 
knows that you cannot spare him; you following him 
through battle after battle, and thrill with pride be- 
cause of his daring bravery — a captain now and 
although you note the manly ring of his letters, you 
see only the bonny boy who went away. How you 
long and pray for the end of the cruel struggle, when 
you can welcome home the victorious soldier! There 
is an ominous note in the letter you are now reading. 
It was written on the eve of the great battle. Stern 
tasks were set for the morrow and many another boy, 
like yours, had been busy about the camp fire with 
pencil and paper, telling the home folks not to worry, 
and as if in premonition of what was to come the 
following day, talking about the home and the old 
happy life, the neighbors and the familiar things, 
trying not to think of the awful work that waited for 
the dawn, but crowding in at the last with the "love 
and remembrance" that if it was theirs to fall they 
did not begrudge the life they had to give, and knew 
that the sorrow of home would be sweetened by the 
thought that they died for the flag. The breath 



60 ENTERTAINMENTS 

comes quick as you read, and the gathering tears 
fall as you take up the next letter. Tear-stained and 
worn the letter, for it was the last; you had never 
quite succeeded in reading it through except that 
first day. The blinding tears shut out the sight. It 
was written in a strange hand. "The great battle is 
over, and victory won. Company I fought bravely 
but suffered great loss, among the number was gal- 
lant Captain B ." That is as far as you can 

see, and your heart breaks again, as you reverently 
put away again, in the old chest, along with a faded 
uniform, those old letters; and all the loneliness and 
sorrow of life comes over you afresh, — so long have 
been the years, so many weary days and nights of 
watching for mother, wife and lover; hearts hunger- 
ing for the old words of endearment; weary ears 
grown deaf in listening for familiar footsteps; aching 
eyes now dimmed with watching for the familiar 
form. And yet you know there will be a Home 
Coming and in that brighter better country farther 
on you will meet the soldier boy who waits for you — 
but it will be your "Home Coming" and not his. The 
mothers and the fathers have mostly gone on to the 
Reunion. The wives and the sisters, brothers and lovers 
are nearing the end of the journey, and the thinning 
ranks of the Old Guard tell how many have gone on 
with messages for the other camp. The roll is 
nearly complete on the other side. 

A new generation has come to sorrow and mourn 
for the soldier dead of the later war. New homes 
have been made desolate and many brave represent- 
atives of a reunited people have gone to join the 
Grand Army beyond. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 61 

What more beautiful tribute to the soldiers than 
telling again the story of their bravery and sacrifice, 
and banking the graves of their dead with flowers. 

A most interesting and appropriate program can 
be made up for Memorial Day or evening. Follow 
the suggestions in regard to decorations, music, 
recitations, etc.. as given in our "War Program'* 
entertainment found elsewhere in this book, 



A SQUASH SOCIAL. 



BY LANTA WILSON SMITH. 

Though of humble name and homely suggestion, 
this sociable is a very attractive and successful one. 
It is best adapted to a Sunday School or young peo- 
ple's society, as there is ample room for all to take 
a part. 

Some day in spring, every one who will assist in 
the enterprise, is presented with six or eight squash 
seeds. They should be of the same kind, that no 
person may have advantage over another. The seeds 
are planted with due care, and all through the sum- 
mer months the question will often be heard, "How 
are your squashes growing?" The children will vie 
with each other to claim the largest production. 

As fall approaches, plans must be made for a 
grand social. All persons who will, may make fancy 
articles, as far as possible carrying out the "squash" 
idea. Pin cushions, twine boxes, tidies and ottomans 
in the form of squashes; photograph frames of squash 
seeds, gilded, etc.; pen wipers and needle books of 



62 ENTERTAINMENTS 

green and orange felt, in the form of blossom and 
leaf. Many things will be suggested when the plan is 
once formed. 

For refreshments, squash pie, sandwiches and 
coffee, ice cream and gold cake. 

The hall should be decorated with festoons of 
squash vines, brightened by artificial blossoms made 
of orange crepe paper. Jack-lanterns may stand 
guard at the entrance. 

The articles to be sold are arranged on decorated 
tables, with waiters wearing orange and green caps 
and fichus. A long table at the back of the platform 
may hold the squashes which represent the industry 
of the participants. In the center, place the largest, 
marked, "The prize production of the occasion." 
Around it may be grouped others of all sizes and 
shapes. At the close of the sociable these are to be 
sold at auction. A witty auctioneer will make a 
great deal of sport out of the successes and failures 
of the summer's work. As each squash is presented 
for bids, its artistic beauty, shading of color, sym- 
metry of form may be humorously described. The 
very small ones may be sold "three for a nickle, or 
three nickles for one," or disposed of in some laugh- 
able way, so that not one may be left. 

A literary program may be arranged, beginning 
with a selection by the orchestra, "Squash Seed 
Polka" (there is such a piece published). Song by 
the Squash-Colored Quartette (waiters in costume). 
Recitation, James VVhitcomb Riley's poem: 

*' When the frost is on the pumpkin. 
And the fodder's in the shock." 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 63 

"How to Raise Squashes," by the owner of the prize 
squash. "The Disappointments of Life," by the owner 
of the smallest squash, etc. 

Original poems and essays may form a feature of 
the entertainment. If desired, the following verses 
may be read: 

A VENTURE IN SQUASH. 

From an unknown country a package came 

That bore a brilliant, botanical name. 
It contained the seeds of a harvest past, 

That were destined to see the light at last. 
For out of enveloping, breathless gloom, 

The seeds were all scattered to meet their doom. 
Then some of the skeptical folks said: "Bosh! 

Just think of a Sunday School raising squash!'* 

But into the ground went the hap'ess seeds 

To furnish some cash for our pressing needs. 
Though late in the season, a hope remained 

That some compensation might yet be gained. 
They had started well, as the springtime waned, 

But for many days, how it rained and rained! 
Why, they almost needed a mackintosh 

To cover each tiny, belated squash. 

They grew and they flourished in flower and vine — ■ 

At least, that's the way it happened with mine; 
Though some, I have learned, concluded to die 

Before they were lit to be baked into pie. 
Perhaps 'twas the auction they feared — or, stay! 

A hint of this rhyme may have reached them some day 
I wish Mr. Billings, whose name is Josh, 

Could write us a poem on raising squash. 

We may build our castles and see them fall, 

Yet hope for the future outlives them all. 
Whatever we do, we must do our best, 

And conquer our toil with a hearty zest. 
Tonight we shall prove by the fruit we display 

Thai where there's a will there is always a way. 
You may iron, or cook, or scrub, or wash, 

But we can make money by raising squash. 



Mt ENTERTAINMENTS 

A NOTE or WARNING. 



One stormy day not long ago, 

There came to me a tale of woe. 

The patient ladies who for years 

Had toiled 'mid many hopes and fears, 

To meet each great or small demand 

With smiling face and cash on hand, 

Had lost their old-time hearty zest, 

And sighed for just a-little rest. 

They'd gone the list of suppers through, 

From turliey, down to oyster stew. 

The list of entertainments, too, 

Afforded nothing really new. 

Yet still they plead from day to day: 

"Do think of aomethinq that will payl" 

Their load was getting hard to bear. 

They carried far too Icirge a share. 

'Twas plain tliat heart and brain and hands 

Were sorely taxed by these demands. 

I wondered if some future day 

We'd wake to find a better way. 

In musing dreams there came to me 

A vision of the 'yet to be.' 

Full fifty years passed swift away, 
And wotneti held unbounded sway 
In court and hall, with brain and pen. 
Domestic spheres were 'manned by men.' 
She took the up-town trolley car 
To plead a 'case' before the bar, 
Or wait within lier oflice, cool. 
He got the children off to school. 
He found the missing hat or shoe. 
He ordered lunch and dinner too. 
And all the weight of household care 
Down trodden men now had to bear. 
Of course with all this daily work. 
Some things the poor men tried to shirk. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 65 

Church suppers and an annual fair, 

They vowed were more than they could bear. 

But ladies who could plead a case, 

Or win a senatorial race, 

Were not alarmed or ill at ease. 

They simply said: "Just as you please; 

But always in the past, you know. 

Vast sums of cash were raised just so. 

Some one must work to make things go, 

And pay the debts you church-men owe. 

To keep the parsonage up to times 

Kequires a stack or so of dimes. 

Our 7nothers thought church suppers paid, 

Their zeal throws you far in the shade. 

Go get your suppers — be content, 

How else could one of you earn a cent?" 

Then all those men with anxious mein 

In solemn, tearful groups were seen. 

They asked for cakes from door to door, 

For pies and doughnuts by the score. 

They set the table, white and fair. 

With china, glass and silver rare. 

They carved the turkey, bread and pies. 

While perspiration dimmed their eyes. 

They served while all the ladies ate, 

Discussing grave affairs of state. 

And when the fair-faced crowd had gone 

They washed the dishes — every one — 

And sighed behind the kitchen door 

Eor gay and care-free days of yore. 

When tired and faint they journeyed home. 

Each wife said: "Well, I'm glad you've come 

To keep this up your health will fail. 

And these late hours will make you pale. 

We ladies have resolved to-night 

To help you out of this sad plight. 

'Tis strange we never saw before 

We pay our church bills o'er and o'er. 

Of course the money comes from us, 

And we're not apt to make a fuss. 



66 ENTERTAINMENTS 

But when we pay a bill out twice, 
It takes a rather generous slice. 
To furnish all that cake and stuff, 
Then buy it back is pretty rough. 
Besides you men worked hard to-day, 
There'll soon be doctor bills to pay. 
The sum you all have earned to-night. 
Your ardent toil would scarce requite. 
Divide all church expenses fair 
And give to each a proper share. 
Hereafter we shall pay the bills, 
And save you men a thousand ills." 
It had been hard, those men confessed, 
To see with what an eager zest 
Their wives had held the pocket books 
In spite of all their wistful looks. 
But if their bills could all be paid, 
With no more suppers in the trade, 
Life still would hold some joy and bliss, 
When wives were kind and true as this I 
O, what were small domestic ills, 
When she so sweetly paid the bills. 
This lesson we may learn to-day:. 
Accept a new and easy way. 
In every burden let all share. 
And drive away the clouds of care. 
To him who holds the pocket book, 
The 'better-half should safely look. 
Just warn him of that coming day, 
And he'll be glad the bills to pay. 

— Lanta Wilson Smith. 

[The above poem can be giveu with good effect at almost any 
entertaiument.— Editor.] 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 67 

INTERESTING AND MONEY MAKING 
ENTERTAINMENT. 



If you are working to clear a church or parsonage 
debt, or have set for yourself a certain definite sum 
to be raised in a certain time, one of the best ways, 
and one that is productive of many dollars is the 
"How I Did It" social or entertainment, which is 
described as follows: 

Let arrangements be made for a preliminary 
entertainment of any kind you may choose. If your 
society gives suppers, you might arrange for a special 
supper, and in announcing it you might say that at 
the supper the ladies would divulge a plan by which 
they expected to raise several hundred dollars to 
apply on the church or parsonage debt. It would 
be well, however, to impress upon the minds of 
those you want to come that you will not attempt to 
raise this money at the supper or entertainment you 
are going to give, otherwise some of them might 
think it economy to stay at home. 

Have one of your brightest talking men or women 
present the plan, telling how the money is to be 
applied when received and that what you ask of them 
is not to take the place of any larger amounts which 
they are in duty bound to give to the church. That 
what you ask is not to be a gift but simply an increase 
by a new and unique plan on what you are going to 
loan them. 

Provide yourself with lOO nickels or as many 
Tiorc or less as you think you can use to advantage. 
Explain to your hearers that you are going to loan 



OT ENTERTAINMENTS 

each one who would accept it five cents and that 

using this as a capital you desire them to earn dur- 
ing the next three months other nickels and dimes 
and quarters up to at least one dollar and more if 

possible; that they could invest the capital as they 
saw fit, in any way good business judgment would 
warrant. Then you might suggest as many ways as 
you can think of by which the nickle could be used 
to multiply itself. Be sure to add that, on the 
principle "a penny saved is a penny earned" it 
would be permissible to add to the amount in this 
way also. But impress upon them that it must be by 
actual self-denial, or direct economy, for the express 
purpose of increasing the profits on this nickle; then 
follow this by stating a number of ways by which 
small sums may be saved without particular hardship. 

Announce that in three months you will hold the 
"Dollar Social," at which a special entertainment 
will be given and from quite a number will be heard 
the story of "How I earned my dollar." 

In giving out the money take the name of every 
person to whom you loan a nickle. It might be well 
also to designate at this time some of the persons 
(selecting the best suited for this service) who would 
be expected to tell "How they earned their dollar." 

It would be wise at least once in the interval to 
go over the list of those holding the nickels, appor- 
tioning the names to different persons for the pur- 
pose of refreshing their memory, if any have forgot- 
ten. From time to time it might also be well to 
make the announcement that it is now only two 
months or one month until the "Great Dollar 
Social." This will serve to keep the matter before 
the people and will excite public curiosity 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 69 

When the time has about lapsed you should then 

announce that on a certain evening the dollar enter- 
tainment and social would be held and in addition to 
the other entertainment provided, a number of lead- 
ing members v/ould tell their interesting experiences 
while earning their dollar. Be sure that you make a 
careful selection of those who are thus to speak. 
See that they are the ones best fitted to give inter- 
estingly and humorously their account. Provide 
special music and one or two good recitations so that 
the program can be diversified. Charge an admis- 
sion fee at the door and have all bring the dollars 
they have earned. Be sure to keep careful account 
as the dollars are handed in and cancel the nickle 
loans against that name. When the regular pro- 
gram is ended the president of the Aid Society or 
some representative should thank the audience for 
their attendance and especially the dollar earners 
for their interest and practical help. Tell them that 
you appreciate their work and that you hope they 
will always think that money invested with the 
Ladies* Aid Society is a paying investment. 

It would add considerably to the enjoyment of 
the evening if the society would provide a light 
lunch which might be passed around and which 
would open the way for a short social. 



70 ENTERTAINMENTS 

THE PREACHER'S LOAN. 



A minister in one of the smaller cities of the west 
wishing to increase the Sabbath school collections 
and educate the children in the way of giving, tried 
the experiment of loaning to each scholar a certain 
sum of money, to be used in any legitimate way, as 
capital, to make money. After the summer vacation 
was over, an evening 'was given over to the "Chil- 
dren's Harvest." Each one, as he brought in his 
money, told how much he had gained and how he 
had made it. The services were very interesting, 
and the financiering of some of the boys augured 
well for their future success in the business world. 
None had put their money away in a napkin, and 
the percentage of gain reached, sometimes, into 
the thousands. Each seemed to have taken an 
honest pride in his achievements, and told the 
story of his little adventure into the business world 
with enthusiasm. Some had raised poultry, others 
sold papers and run errands. Some of the little fel- 
lows, catching the spirit of the time, had "pooled" 
their money and gone into the garden business. 
The little girls had had a harder time to make 
their money grow; some had grown flowers, others 
had "helped mamma." So the story went and a 
very interesting story it was, too, listening to the 
shrewd little methods that had been used to increase 
the amount to be turned in, and many a little fellow 
had been trained in alertness and quickness of judg- 
ment that will stand him in hand in future business 
operations. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. Yl 

Quite a character study it was, too, as one listened 
and found cropping out here and there the peculiar- 
ities that had distinguished their smaller dealings; 
and as we looked on to the time when these boys 
should be older grown, carrying with them into the 
larger business of the world, the same traits that 
marked their smaller success, we made our guesses 
as to the ones who would succeed in the sterner work 
of life. 

The "preacher's loan" v/as a good thing. It estab- 
lished between the minister and the boys, especially, 
a feeling of fellowship that had not existed before, 
and made them feel that the Loan and Investment 
Company to which they belonged was of considerable 
importance to the work of the church. It also kept 
up interest in the school, during the hot summer 
months, and gave the young people something to do 
during the vacation period. 

It is good practical training, too. Lads who have 
been studying in the arithmetic that ten dimes make 
one dollar, know just how much hustle and sweat 
that dollar stands for when it is earned; and that is 
an important lesson which the young people of to-day 
are very slow in learning. 



72 ENTERTAINMENTS 



A WAR PROG R A/A. 



A war program is always in order and always 
draws a crowd. There are many ways of arranging 
such a program as the ingenuity of those having it 
in charge can suggest and the ability of the people 
they may command to fulfill the parts assigned. To 
begin with, the decorations should be of flags, war 
pictures, such as battle scenes, and if the program is 
given from a platform a most appropriate decoration 
is a stack of arms on either side. These may be ob- 
tained of the G. A. R. society, whose members will, 
no doubt, be glad to co-operate in any way for the 
success of such a program. The music committee 
should see that the music for such a program is of a 
decidedly patriotic nature. It should consist of 
several quartettes, solos, duets, etc., and the selection 
made from among old songs, well understood by the 
people. Such army songs as "Marching Through 
Georgia," "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground," etc., 
are always well received. Care should be taken to 
arrange the music so that it is especially appropriate 
to that part of the entertainment immediately pre- 
ceding it. 

There should be several patriotic recitations by 
the best local talent obtainable. The recitations 
should be given by different individuals and different 
classes — I mean that they should not all be given by 
children nor all by grown people. 

For another part of the program, have some old 
soldier tell of his army experiences. Be sure to select 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 73 

one who can talk. War stories have a wonderful fasci- 
nation for every one and this part of the program will 
be a very interesting one if it is properly handled and 
the right man selected to do the talking. 

If there is a soldier boy in your town or vicinity 
who was under arms during the late Spanish- Ameri- 
can war, get him, if possible, to relate some of his 
experiences in camp and army life. Just now when 
people are so thoroughly interested in our new pos- 
sessions anything you can have in regard to them 
will be appreciated. 

Another very interesting feature, which may be 
added, is a talk by some one on the subject, "Home 
Scenes During the War." Some one who saw the 
boys of '6i, when they left home for the front; there 
can be pictured the parting scenes as the fathers and 
husbands, brothers and lovers bade good-by to their 
loved ones and tramped away to the war, many of 
them never to return; the home coming scenes, of 
the sick and wounded and the dead; the constant 
and feverish anxiety for news from the front; the 
annual decoration day, when the living pay homage 
to the dead. This part of the program can be made 
of intense interest if placed in the hands of a good 
speaker. 

If it is desired, a very laughable feature may be 
added in the line of "The Prize Drill." Six or eight 
young men, commanded by an officer, all of whom 
must keep straight faces, can go through the manual 
of arms, and marching as an "awkward squad" in a 
most ludicrous way. The only caution necessary is 
that the participants must be perfectly serious, and 
care must be had not to overdo the part. 



74 ENTERTAINMENTS 

THE NEWSPAPER SOCIAL. 



One of the most enjoyable socials the writer has 
ever attended is known as the newspaper social. 
When our society gave this entertainment, we had a 
very large attendance, a most enthusiastic and happy 
evening's entertainment, and the satisfaction of know- 
ing that all who attended were given an intellectual 
stimulus that made them, better and broader in mind 
and character for having been our guests. Another 
most satisfactory resultwas the clearingof nearly $ioo^ 
to apply on the parsonage debt, which our ladies have 
undertaken to pay. 

To begin with, we appointed a committee of three 
to see the editors of the three papers published in our 
town, explain what we were going to do, and secure 
their co-operation. Editors are always willing to help 
along a good cause, and this being a bit of "news- 
paper enterprise," they became enthusiastic helpers 
at once, and each in his next issue published an 
article under big scare head-lines about "The New 
Newspaper Coming to Town." Public curiosity was 
aroused and further announcements were awaited with 
much interest. The next article said that the paper 
would be started and controlled by the ladies and that 
the first number would be out "next Thursday 
evening," and the public at large were invited to 
come to the town hall and see the first number run 
off. Then followed a partial description of what the 
ladies intended to dp. 

A special meeting of our society was called and 
an extra effort made to secure a large attendance. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 75 

The plan for the newspaper social was discussed and 
decided upon as follows: Each lady attending was 
requested to adopt some paper or journal different 
from all the others and to represent that paper or 
journal by making a costume of it. It was suggested 
how this could be easily and quickly done by taking 
a suitable old dress and sewing the newspapers onto 
it. Each lady was left to her own originality and 
taste in getting up her costume. 

The entertainment proper was provided for as 
follows: An editor-in-chief and department editors 
were elected. The editor-in-chief was to have gen- 
eral charge of the entertainment and to provide for 
the editorials. The department editors were given 
the following departments: The Home Department, 
the Story Departmicnt, the Music Department, the 
Puzzle Department, the Advertising Department, 
and the Subscription Department. The duties de- 
volving upon each were explained, refreshments of 
coffee and sandwiches authorized and provided for, 
and the meeting adjourned. 

There was a little rivalry among the ladies in 
regard to their costumes and the result in the way of 
novel and artistic costumes was all that could be 
desired. It is surprising what varied and pretty 
effects can be produced with newspapers and jour- 
nals, with the exercise of a bit of ingenuity and 
originality. 

The ladies came, each decked out in her chosen 
paper, decorated with paper ribbons, paper ties and 
paper flowers. Each guest on entering the hall 
where our entertainment was given, was handed a 
card on which was neatly written the names of the 



T6 ENTERTAINMENTS 

editors and the subjects to be considered under each 
department, and the request that the conversation 
for the evening be exclusively in regard to the sub- 
ject given and that no one would converse with the 
same person on but one topic. 

After the company had gathered, the editor-in-chief 
announced that, because of his commanding pres- 
ence and reach of voice, Judge So-and-so would act 
as editor-in-chief. The judge in two or three minutes 
brought out three or four editorial topics, giving on 
each side a few sentences, to prepare for discussion. 
One subject was, "The Philippine islands: shall we 
annex them?" another, "Should women take an active 
part in politics?" The other two subjects were purely 
local. The judge, after proposing each editorial, 
gave five minutes for their discussion; he then pro- 
posed another editorial and requested them to talk 
about that with a different party. After fifteen or 
twenty minutes devoted to this department, the 
editor-in-chief introduced the editor of the home 
department, who gave a nice little talk on the news- 
paper in the home; the necessity of providing the 
best reading matter and the constant care to be 
exercised in keeping out demoralizing reading mat- 
ter. The topic for discussion by this department 
was, "What five papers do you prefer to have in your 
home?" After a discussion of five minutes the edi- 
tor said that Miss Somebody had contributed a piece 
of poetry to the home department and would now 
give it. Master Goodboy also recited a contribution 
he had made. The judge then presented the editor 
of the music department, who introduced various 
selections of music which she had provided. After 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 77 

this came the story department. The editor of this 
department had arranged with two good story-tellers, 
who took turn about in telling stories. One told of 
army experiences; the other of pioneer days in the 
town. Then came the puzzle department. The 
editor of this department proposed a number of con- 
undrums, riddles and puzzles, which the guests were 
permitted to write down on the backs of their pro- 
grams. Then, after five minutes, the answers were 
called for. 

The judge then requested that the husbands find 
.their wives and the others their sweethearts. After 
the company were thus arranged, the judge an- 
nounced that the subscription editor, with her assist- 
ants, would pass among the company to collect for 
the paper. He said the subscription price was 
twenty-five cents for each grown person and ten 
cents for each child. When this feature was finished 
the advertising manager was introduced and after a 
word or two about the value of advertising, intro- 
duced various young ladies, each of whom gave an 
advertisement for one of the local stores. By the 
way, we were paid for these advertisements, nearly 
$20. The refreshment committee (a large one) then 
served the sandwiches and coffee. 

The editor-in-chief, in the name of the society, 
thanked the people for their presence and told them 
how the money was to be spent; then bade them 
good-night. 

Everyone went home saying, "What a splendid 
time we had!" And the best of it was that our 
society was enriched by nearly $ioo, and the follow- 
ing Sunday, in response to our invitation, a number 



78 ENTERTAINMENTS 

of our friends who seldom or never attend church, 
were out. 

[The entertainment can be modified in various 
ways, to suit. The writer has simply written on an 
experience of her society that it might suggest, 
rather than to be followed to the letter. — Editor.] 



THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP. 



One of the most delightful and instructive enter- 
tainments is that of the "Old Curiosity Shop." In 
every community, among the older families, and 
sometimes families not so old, there are various old 
relics of former times, which have been treasured up 
or hidden away in the garret covered with the dust 
of years. Old pictures — pictures taken of people 
now old or who have passed away— quaint old 
daguerrotypes in queer old fashions of long ago; 
old spinning wheels, those relics of our grandmama's 
industry of the long ago; old snuffing scissors, warm- 
ing pans, old straight-back chairs, old books, papers, 
old oxen yokes. There are to be found in every 
community hundreds of most interesting old relics 
and souvenirs, and with many of them there goes a 
story as interesting as any found in books. "The 
Old Curiosity Shop" affords a most excellent 
opportunity for getting out the old people and giv- 
ing them a very happy evening or afternoon talking 
over the days of "auld lang syne," and telling over 
the stories suggested by the remembrances of other 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 79 

days. The younger people will be interested, too,, 
especially in the old spinning wheels and other 
articles once in common use, but now superseded by 
something better. The enjoyment may be added to 
by the singing of old songs or hymns. 

Our committee met with many agreeable surprises 
when we made the round in search of "specimens" 
for our curiosity shop. We went first to the oldest 
inhabitants, and particularly those living in oldhouses. 
In several places we went ourselves to the garret or 
loft and soon we had a collection of old chairs, spin- 
ning wheels and other old and more or less dilapidated 
bric-a brae that would have made a curio dealer 
decidedly envious. These were quickly loaned to 
us as were also old pictures, and anything else odd 
enough to be curious, including several specimens 
of old poke bonnets and gentlemen's hats of forty 
years ago. More valuable articles were also loaned 
us when we assured the owners that everything 
would be properly labeled and carefully guarded. 
While gathering the various curiosities for our shop 
we encouraged the owners to tell all about them, so 
that we were loaded with a great deal of interesting 
history and narratives. 

Tables were provided. Everything was carefully 
labeled, giving the owner's name, the age of the 
article, and if possible a word or two in regard to its 
history. A show case was provided for old letters, 
documents and other things that could not be safely 
handled, or were two valuable to permit of promis- 
cuous handling. Each table, case or collection on 
the wall had its keeper, whose business it was to look 
out for her department, and tell the stories about 



80 ENTERTAINMENTS 

the specimens. One grandmama was the center of 
attraction, all the evening she had an old spinning 
wheel, and was showing how the women used to spin; 
stopping frequently to tell of ways of doing other 
things now no longer practiced. 

Our "Curiosity Shop" was carefully planned, and 
worked up, and we not only all had a very enjoyable 
time but learned much. The shop was open an after- 
noon and evening, Supper was served. Admission 
tickets were sold at 25 cents each, and an extra 
charge was made for supper. 




OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 81 

OUR GRAND BIRTHDAY PETE. 



We give herewith the program, as given by the 
official members of one of Des Moines' leading 
churches. The Ladies' Aid Society had been doing 
considerable in the way of socials, concerts, etc., and 
a prominent member thereof insinuated to various 
male members of the official board that it was high 
time they were doing something to help along the 
fund being raised to pay off the church mortgage. 
The grave and dignified gentlemen constituting the 
board, were not to be outdone, and they immediately 
got together and the following hand-bills were soon 
scattered abroad: 

GRAND BIRTHDAY FETE 

IN HONOR OF EVERYBODY'S BIRTHDAY. 



The entertainment will be under the auspices of the grave and 
venerable gentlemen who comprise the ofi&cial board of the church. 
They will render the program, serve the refreshments and commit 
any and all other acts necessary to secure to those present the most 
enjoyable evening of their lives. 



Among the program attractions which will be presented on 
this memorable occasion, will be an Original Pome (written by 
himself) by 

DR, J, F, KENNELWORTH, 



82 ENTERTAINMENTS 



A Noration* 

George Washington's Fourth of July, by that eloquent and 
interesting spellbinder, 

HON, SIDNEY ALEXANDER BOSTER 



secegCTon * « jn$t mmt Qumzezze. 

SpeakinI 

By Little Billy Tenn, the Boy Wonder. 

Little Billy is only "steen" years old, but he will on this 
occasion give "The Charge of the Wonderful One Hoss Shay," 
in two colors with variations, and containing 247 verses, more or 
less, entirely from memory. For an encore he will recite (with 
-one hand tied behind him) a few verses of that touchin' and ever 
popular ballad, "Comin Through the Wheat." 

SOLO by Signor Alphonso Robusto De Pump, 

The Great Bare-of Tone. 

He will sing this Solo entirely alone. 



DUET « « « Will Lacey and L.Carpenter. 



The whole to conclude with a grand ensemble de fumble, 
called the OFFICIAL CHORUS, by the entire Board. 

At the close of the program, Refreshments, wonderful as to 
their variety and marvelous as to their filling qualities, will be 
served by a coterie of "sweet young things" in costume— the 
Official Board. 



OF A SOCIAL NATURE. 83 

USHERS— M. L. Fudley and C. E. Conner. 
DOORKEEPERS- G. A. Filler, F. M. Morrison. 

ADMISSION— One Fenny for each year you have lived, 
and if you don't wish you were a hundred after you hiVe 
tasted the refreshments and listened to the program, a com- 
mittee will labor further with you. 




I 



Ch 



Ladies' 
Hid 



Socictv 




s^%-« 



AN 

EXCHANGE 

OF 

IDEAS 

ALONG 

THE 

LINE 

OF 

PRACTICAL 

CHURCH 

WORK 

AND 

THE 

WORK 

OF 

THE 

LADIES' 

CHURCH 

SOCIETIES 

IN 

PARTICULAR. 



\ 



r 



Devoted to the 
Social JS^eeds 
of the Cburcb. 

NEW 
AND 
WHOLE- 
SOME 
SOCIALS 
AND 

ENTERTAIN- 
MENTS 
FOR 

CHURCH 
PURPOSES. 

Subscfipticn prke, 
$1.00 per 't^an 

Addfess 
THE 

LADIFS' AID SOCIETY 
PUBLISHING CO., 

Des Moines, Iowa. 



OCT Q 1899 



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